CFOs Should Prepare for Long-Term Refunds
The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling invalidating the Trump administration’s tariffs was a positive outcome for companies, but refunds may take years to materialize.
The Supreme Court decided in February that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency illegally collected $166 billion from 300,000 importers. Logically, companies should get refunds, but lawyers don’t expect a smooth process. Importers should be prepared to wait for one year, even 18 months, according to TD Securities.
The federal agency set up an online portal called the Automated Commercial Environment to handle refunds. Once the agency accepts a company’s claim, it issues refunds within 60 to 90 days.
That’s the short-term optimistic resolution, but history shows a lot of things could go wrong. In 1998, the Supreme Court announced that the government had to return $750 million in fees collected between 1993 and 1998. It took years to get done.
The CBP is set up to collect money quickly—but it doesn’t easily send it back. Companies must document a proper claim on the new portal. Some small business owners don’t understand the complex customs terminology, while others can’t even log in to the new portal due to technical glitches. Let’s say that the agency and the company don’t agree about the amount of the refund. The importer must submit new documentation and begin a second review process. Companies could even be forced to go to court.
CFOs should be ready for a long, fastidious process. The financial expert should set up a cross-functional task force—including tax, accounting, procurement, and supply chain experts—to review the data and audit all the company’s entries. When the time comes, the task force will be able to answer any CBP question.
The online portal created by the CBP agency focuses on importers, but they are not alone. Consumers could also say that they were overcharged because of the tariffs. The federal government ignores them, but some states don’t. Taking matters into his own hands, Illinois Democrat Governor JB Pritzker, in a letter to the Trump administration posted on soicial media, demanded an $8.7 billion refund—that’s $1,700 for each Illinois household affected.
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