A refund system for businesses that paid tariffs imposed by Donald Trump without constitutional authority is set to launch on Monday, April 20. The system will allow importers and their brokers to claim refunds through an online portal, with the government processing refunds in phases, focusing first on more recent tariff payments.
The Supreme Court found in a 6-3 decision that Trump usurped Congress' tax-setting role when he set new import tax rates on products from various countries last April. The court majority did not address refunds in its ruling, but a judge at the US Court of International Trade determined that companies subjected to IEEPA tariffs were entitled to them.
More than 330,000 importers paid a total of about $166 billion on over 53 million shipments, but not all of these orders qualify for the first phase of the refund system's rollout. Importers who expect refunds must have cases in which tariffs were estimated but not finalized or within 80 days of receiving a final accounting.
While tariffs are paid by importers, some companies pass on the tax costs to consumers via higher prices. Starting Monday, the system will refund tariffs directly to the businesses that paid them, but these businesses are not obligated to share the proceeds with customers.
Class-action lawsuits are now turning to the US legal system, seeking reimbursement for consumers who were billed for some or all of the tariffs on products shipped to them from outside the US. Delivery companies like FedEx and UPS, which collected tariffs on imports directly from consumers, are more likely to return tariff refunds to customers.
