SCOTUS Ruling / February 20, 2026

The Supreme Court struck down $175 billion in tariffs. Your refund is not automatic.

On February 20, the Court ruled 6-3 that IEEPA (International Emergency Economic Powers Act) does not authorize tariffs. Every dollar is owed back, plus interest. But refunds are not guaranteed or automatic. You have to file to preserve your rights. We handle the paperwork. Flat fee. You're on the record.

Preserve My Rights →
$175B+Collected illegally
300K+Importers affected
34M+Entries filed
6-7%Interest owed to you
What nobody is telling you

The ruling is final. You won.
Don't wait for the government to act for you.

The ruling is clear: IEEPA does not authorize tariffs. Every dollar collected under the Act was collected without legal authority. 6-3, a decisive majority. But the Court did not order refunds. It did not tell Customs what to do next. It did not create a process. It just said the tariffs were illegal.

So what happens now? The government could set up an administrative refund process. Customs could issue guidance. The Court of International Trade could order it. All of that is possible. But none of it has happened, no process has been announced, and the political signals point the other direction.

"I guess it has to get litigated for the next two years."
President Trump, February 20, 2026, on IEEPA refunds
"The Court says nothing today about whether, and if so how, the Government should go about returning the billions of dollars that it has collected from importers."
Justice Kavanaugh, dissenting opinion
"They haven't told us that we do have to repay it... But we'll see whether we have to repay."
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, CBS News, February 21, 2026

The day of the ruling, the administration did not announce a refund plan. Instead, it announced new tariffs: 10% that night and 15% the next morning.

Major law firms that advise importers all published the same message within hours of the ruling, that refunds are not automatic. You have to file. A Post-Summary Correction (PSC) for entries still open, a formal protest under 19 U.S.C. § 1514 for anything already finalized. Blank Rome, Squire Patton Boggs, Perkins Coie, Sidley Austin, WilmerHale. Act now.

TD Securities estimates the process will take 12 to 18 months to roll out. The President said two years. In the same press conference, he revised it to five.

It has happened before
In 1998, the Supreme Court struck down the Harbor Maintenance Tax in United States v. United States Shoe Corp. The government did not issue automatic refunds. Only importers who filed timely administrative claims got their money back. Everyone else lost it. The same statutory framework governs IEEPA tariff refunds today.
The real question

What costs more: filing now, or waiting and hoping?

There is a scenario where the government handles everything. Customs zeros out every IEEPA entry, sends refunds automatically, and the Court of International Trade orders blanket relief. It is possible. There is even precedent for it.

But there is another scenario where it takes two years, as the President said. The process finally takes shape and only covers importers who already filed. If you are not on record, you are not covered. So the question is simple:

If you file now

You're out a small flat fee.

If the government ends up processing your refund automatically, you would have paid for insurance you didn't need. That is the worst case. Your paperwork is on file, your rights are preserved, and you're on the record regardless of what happens next.

If you wait

You could lose your refund permanently.

Customs is finalizing entries every day. Once an entry is finalized without correction, the simple path closes. For entries already finalized, a 180-day protest window is running. Miss it and you could lose your right to file, just like the importers who waited after the Harbor Maintenance Tax ruling.

The risk of filing is a small fee. The risk of not filing is potentially losing everything. That doesn't change regardless of what the government does.
What we do

You authorize us. We handle everything else.

You do not need to understand customs law, dig through records, or figure out which entries have been finalized. That is our job.

You sign a service authorization. We analyze your import records, identify every tariff charge affected by the ruling, and manage the correction process for each one. Open entries get corrected. Finalized entries get protested. Everything is on record.

Where your entries likely stand right now
19.2M Still open
correctable now
14.8M Already finalized
protest required
Latest entry counts: Congressional Research Service, Dec 10, 2025. Revenue: Penn Wharton Budget Model, Feb 20, 2026. Numbers shift daily as entries continue to finalize.
Entries still open

Administrative correction

Post-Summary Correction (PSC)

The unlawful tariff lines are removed from your entry summary. The entry finalizes at the corrected amount, and any overpayment should be returned through the normal CBP settlement process. This is the faster, cleaner path.

Entries already finalized

Formal protest

19 U.S.C. § 1514 / 180-day window

We file a formal protest with CBP, the only administrative mechanism available for finalized entries. This preserves your refund rights. If a new process is announced later, you're already on the record and your data can be transferred.

Entries from early 2025 may have windows closing as early as June 2026.
Do not assume August 19 is your deadline. Some protest windows are already closing. The sooner you file, the more entries can be corrected.
Entries PSC (open) 1514 Protest (finalized)
1 - 25 $49 $99
26 - 100 $39 $79
101 - 500 $29 $59
500+ Contact us for enterprise pricing
Flat per-entry fees. No percentage of your refund. Your refund is yours, every dollar.
The ruling, as covered by
Reuters Bloomberg The Wall Street Journal Financial Times
Built by customs and international trade professionals. We work in ACE daily, we understand entry summaries, HTS classifications, liquidation timelines, and CBP protest procedures.
Interest calculator

See what you could be owed.

On top of every dollar refunded, the government owes you interest compounded daily per 19 U.S.C. § 1505. Select your entity type to see your rate.

Enter your numbers ↓
Entity type
Your Statutory Interest Rate7.00%
Preserve your rights

The process starts here.

We are tracking all developments. CBP guidance, CIT orders, legislative signals. Leave your details and we assess your exposure. The moment filings begin, you're at the front of the line. Flat fee. No percentage of your refund.

$
We want to make sure this is worth your money before recommending you file. We have your details and will reach out soon.
No spam. We reach out when it's time to move. Not legal advice. We are not a law firm. Designed for importers with $1,000+ in IEEPA tariffs.