The Trump administration is building a portal where companies will be able to apply for tariff refunds after the
In the meantime, taxpayers are unsure of exactly where and how they will be able to claim refunds of the tariffs they have paid, even as thousands of companies have reportedly filed claims with the U.S. Court of International Trade seeking refunds.
"The only thing certain right now is uncertainty," said Mark Baran, managing director of CBIZ's national tax office in Washington, D.C. "What we have is a Supreme Court case that said nothing about refunds. The refund authority remains with the Court of International Trade. It's a three-judge panel in New York City. They're the ones that are presiding over the 3,000 or so cases that are pending, and they are trying to determine the how, when and whether of the process by which refunds will be made. This was a separation-of-powers case, so the Supreme Court is the final arbiter of this issue. They determined that certain types of tariffs are invalid, and as a result, importers of record are entitled to refunds. How you go about getting any of those refunds is the open issue. We are working with our clients to prepare for any scenario, whether they're in pre-liquidation or post-liquidation status, how they can either calculate, estimate and provide the documentation that is needed to be ready when guidance is produced."
In the meantime, many firms are in the dark about exactly what to do for their clients. "Right now, there is no clear administrative process for issuing tariff refunds, and how those claims will ultimately be resolved remains uncertain," said John Rose, national tax director at Aprio in Atlanta. "Any refund rights would arise under U.S. trade law rather than the Internal Revenue Code, which means different procedures and a shorter statute of limitations. Given the lack of clarity, the most practical approach for consumers and importers alike is to stay informed and wait for further legal or regulatory guidance from your CPA and advisors before taking any action."
150-day window
Companies that already paid tariffs under IEEPA must exhaust administrative remedies before pursuing court action. "If you miss that window, you lose the refund entirely," said Tony Gulotta, principal and national tax practice leader at the global tax services firm Ryan in New York.
After the Supreme Court ruling, President Trump said he would impose 15% tariffs under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, but that authority can only be used for 150 days.
"That's the runway the administration has to finalize additional 232 and 301 tariffs on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals," said Gulotta. "Businesses in those sectors need to be preparing now. The 150-day Section 122 window lands right in the middle of midterm season. Nobody in Washington is going to touch tariff policy when votes are on the line. Businesses have that window to get their house in order."
He noted that the tariff recovery process doesn't end with the refund. "Once businesses recover those costs, they'll need to reevaluate the sales tax, property tax and transfer pricing valuations that were all calculated on inflated, tariff-inclusive numbers," said Gulotta. "They're all going to need to be reevaluated after these tariffs are refunded."
Clients are interested in what they need to do, and when they're going to get the refunds. "From an administrative standpoint, what we're recommending is, now that the IEEPA tariffs are off, pull down all of your electronic data, and really stage those liquidation dates so you can figure out what you need to do for purposes of protests," said Gulotta. "They can consolidate their protests, but they have to do it by period, and by port. Because those tariffs were in effect for essentially a year, they're probably going to have to do at least two protests for every port, if they consolidate the entries by port."
President Trump also issued an
"Semiconductors are in virtually every product manufactured today, so when those tariffs drop, the ripple effect across industries will be far broader than most companies are anticipating," said Gulotta. "Businesses assume tariffs are a manufacturing problem. Tell that to the ice cream company we're speaking to that imports ingredients from overseas. Tariff exposure cuts across every industry that touches an international supply chain."
Handling previous deductions
While the Supreme Court ruling struck down the IEEPA tariffs, it also created a new problem for tax professionals: What do you tell a client who already deducted tariff costs that might be coming back as refunds?
"Everybody wants to know how much is coming back," said Joshua Chananie, a partner-in-charge of the manufacturing and distribution practice at Sax LLP in Clifton, New Jersey. "When is it coming back? The reality is no one's really sure. I have a feeling this is going to be heavily litigated. But the amount of recordkeeping that businesses would need to have to support what those tariff claims even are could be monumental to come up with and recreate. Could there be a windfall for companies? Is there an expectation that it'll happen today, tomorrow, six months from now, a year from now? What we're telling clients to do is you kind of have to sit tight and see what happens."
FedEx filed suit for a refund late last month and has promised to return any refunds it receives from the Trump administration to its customers. "From a '25 year-end standpoint, we're telling folks to leave things as they are," said Chananie. "If you start accruing for refunds, you are creating income that you may or may not ever receive. The thought would be, let those refunds come back, and if that income hits, it's treated more on a cash basis. The expectation is not that it's all going to come back, but when it comes back, we'll recognize it as revenue if it does. If they do follow through with a new set of tariffs under a new regime, what does that say for the old tariffs that were assessed? The Supreme Court did not rule that the tariffs were unconstitutional. They ruled that the way that they were implemented was unconstitutional."
It's unclear whether many consumers and retailers will be able to benefit from any tariffs that are refunded to importers.
"There's also the retailer who may have paid a higher cost," said Baran. "They're going to have to look at their contracts with their importers to see if there's any price adjustment clauses or indemnification types of provisions. Looking at the ultimate consumer who is bearing the burden of these higher prices and whether this is changed now that there's new tariffs, it's unclear whether that will affect prices, or whether they'll even have any rights to any of these refunded amounts."
Companies may have already taken tax write-offs on the tariffs they've paid and will need to decide how to handle any possible refunds. "For those that are receiving refunds, there's going to have to be adjustments because they've already written off the payment of that tariff," said Baran. "However, there's going to be some financial statement impacts as well. This is a change in law, a subsequent event affecting a prior year, and so we're looking at how this affects financial statements, and that's to be determined."
Firms are preparing their clients for the various contingencies. "We offer a lot of services in that regard," said Baran. "We're looking at this very closely. The mitigation strategies that we've had in place for a long time will continue. While we're in this environment in this administration, I think all companies should understand that there's ways to improve cash flow that includes transfer pricing, valuations, classifications and duty drawbacks. There are a number of mitigation opportunities that will need to continue to either gain the tax benefits from the One Big Beautiful Bill that offers a lot of incentives to free up cash flow and assist customers. That's a message that we shouldn't lose sight of."
