U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said March 6 that it would need roughly 45 days to build a system capable of processing refunds tied to tariffs that the Supreme Court ruled unlawful — potentially setting the stage for one of the largest reimbursement efforts in U.S. trade policy.

In a court filing, CBP told the U.S. Court of International Trade that it currently cannot comply immediately with an order requiring refunds of tariffs imposed under the Trump administration using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The agency said its existing systems are not equipped to handle the unprecedented scale of refunds involved.

CPD stated the current system would require an estimated 4.4 million man-hours to refund each of the 53 million entries by more than 330,000 importers for Ieepa tariff payments.

Feb. 27 NAW Webinar: Navigating Tariffs Following the Supreme Court Ruling (available on-demand)

The issue stems from a Feb. 20 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down the tariffs, ruling that the emergency powers law used to impose them did not authorize such sweeping import duties.

Following that decision, Judge Richard K. Eaton of the Court of International Trade ordered that affected importers are entitled to refunds — with interest — for the now-invalid tariffs.

CBP officials say the agency must create a new, streamlined system to handle the refunds because attempting to process claims manually would be impractical.

Those tariffs generated approximately $166 billion in duties, making the potential reimbursements one of the largest repayment efforts ever handled by the U.S. customs system.

To manage the workload, CBP said it plans to develop new functionality within its Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) platform that would allow refunds to be calculated and issued on an importer-level basis rather than processing each individual entry separately.

Agency officials told the court the new system should allow refunds to be processed with minimal input from importers once it becomes operational.

CBP argued that attempting to immediately process the refunds under its current system could divert resources from other mission-critical duties, including national security responsibilities.

The agency’s proposal is intended to avoid requiring importers to file individual lawsuits or manual claims in order to receive refunds. Instead, the government aims to establish a centralized mechanism that could automatically calculate and distribute payments once the court approves the approach.

The timeline and structure of the refund process are still subject to the court’s oversight, and additional guidance for importers is expected once the system framework is finalized.