CAPE, Three Days In: What Is Working, What Is Still Failing, and What You Need to Know Before the April 28 CIT Report
CAPE has been live since Monday morning. Declarations are being submitted and processed. CBP is working through the technical reports from day one. And the 80-day window that determines Phase 1 eligibility for liquidated entries keeps running regardless of whether you have filed yet.
Three days in, some patterns are emerging in how the system is actually behaving versus how it was described in pre-launch guidance. This post covers what is working, what is catching people out, the compliance risks that have not changed, and what the April 28 CIT progress report is likely to tell us.
The system as it stands
The core mechanics are working. The CAPE tab is visible in Importer, Organizational Broker, and Filer sub-accounts in ACE. Filers download the upload template, populate the single-column CSV with entry numbers, save as a .csv file, and upload through the portal. ACE runs two rounds of validation: first on the file structure itself, then on the individual entries. Valid entries advance and invalid ones are removed from the declaration, which continues processing with whatever entries passed. A CAPE claim number confirms acceptance.
The day-one 'Duplicate tax ID' errors that locked some importers out have been acknowledged by CBP, which said it is actively investigating. CBIZ noted in its post-launch guidance that some users continue to report technical challenges and should monitor CBP communications. If you ran into problems Monday or Tuesday and have not tried again, do so now. CBP's dedicated inbox for IEEPA refund issues is IEEPARefunds@cbp.dhs.gov. For ACE-specific errors, the ACE Help Desk and your CBP client representative are the right contacts.
The three things catching people in the first wave of filings
The first is the CSV error rule. A single formatting error, a mistyped entry number, a duplicate, an ineligible entry included by mistake — returns the entire declaration, not just the problem row. CBP has been explicit about this since before launch: if the submission has even one error, the whole thing comes back and requires a corrected resubmission. There is no partial acceptance at the file level. This is why it matters to verify each entry number before uploading rather than doing a quick check after the fact.
The second is the ACH enrollment distinction. Having ACH configured in ACE for duty payments is not the same as having it configured for refunds. These are separate setups in different parts of the portal. An importer who set up ACH years ago for duty payment purposes may have no refund-designated bank account on file at all. The refund enrollment lives in the Importer sub-account view, under the ACH Refund Authorization tab on the far right. Check this before filing. If the banking information is not there when CBP processes the refund, the payment goes into suspense with no interest accruing until you add it.
The third is the no-amendment rule. Once a declaration is accepted, it cannot be changed. If you find additional eligible entries after submitting, you need to file a second declaration. The entries on that second declaration cannot overlap with entries already on an accepted declaration — the system will reject them. The practical consequence is that importers who rushed to file before fully compiling their entry lists are now discovering they need a second filing for entries they missed. Take the time to make your first declaration as complete as possible before submitting.
The compliance and liability risks that have not changed
Two points that have been in the guidance since before launch remain worth emphasizing because the first filings are now in and these risks are real. First, CBP can apply your IEEPA refund against other outstanding duty balances. The regulatory language is specific: refunds are subject to netting of all over- and under-payments on the entry at liquidation and can be diverted to offset legally fixed unpaid debts to the United States. If you have outstanding duty bills on non-IEEPA matters, your IEEPA refund may not arrive in full. Know what your outstanding balances are before you model your expected refund amount.
Second, inaccurate declarations carry liability beyond a rejected filing. Multiple legal firms, including Snell and Wilmer, have noted that declarations not based on substantiated entry data could become subject to false claims or false certification investigations. If your entries have known classification issues, valuation problems, or country-of-origin discrepancies and you file knowing of those problems, the exposure is separate from and potentially more serious than the refund question itself. Review your entries for compliance issues before they go on a declaration. If something is questionable, get it resolved first.
What the April 28 CIT report will tell us
The Court of International Trade ordered CBP to file a Phase 1 progress report on April 28, followed by a closed-door conference with the judge. That report will be the first formal public accounting of the launch: how many declarations have been submitted, how many were accepted versus rejected, what the rejection reasons are, and whether the system is performing at the pace and scale CBP projected.
It may also signal the timeline for Phase 2, which covers the roughly 37% of affected entries that Phase 1 cannot currently process: finally liquidated entries, reconciliation entries, drawback-designated entries, and entries with open protests. The CIT has already ordered that finally liquidated entries must be covered. CBP has committed to developing that capability. But there is no public timeline for when Phase 2 goes live.
The government's 60-day appeal window on the CIT's refund orders closes around June 7. If the administration files at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit before that date, the legal framework underpinning CAPE could face disruption. That has not happened, and CAPE is operating under the CIT's orders as they stand. But importers with significant refund exposure should have legal counsel tracking the litigation alongside the administrative process.
When refunds actually arrive
Phase 1 covers approximately 63% of entries on which IEEPA duties were paid. CBP quotes 60 to 90 days from declaration acceptance to refund issuance for clean entries. The first refunds from declarations filed in the opening days of CAPE are expected in June or July. Entries that are suspended, extended, or under review get their refund in the normal course of liquidation, not on the 60 to 90 day clock. Refunds are consolidated by importer of record and by liquidation date, so multiple entries on the same declaration may not all generate payments on the same day.
Monitor the REV-603 Trade Refund report in ACE Reports for successful payments. The REV-613 ACH Rejected Refunds report shows rejections caused by missing or invalid banking information. Check both regularly after filing.
How ShipTech can help
Our customs brokerage team is actively filing CAPE declarations for clients. We can help compile and validate your entry list, confirm your ACE account structure and ACH refund enrollment are correctly configured, file the declaration on your behalf as your authorized broker, and monitor status through the ACE reporting tools. If you want to move before entries start aging out of Phase 1 eligibility, reach out to your ShipTech account manager now.