---
type: Playbook
title: "CAPE Portal Launch: What April 20 Meant for Retailers"
description: "CAPE Portal launched April 20, 2026 — what independent retailers and small importers need to know about the new CBP entry process, in plain English."
resource: https://amyfaychandler.com/playbook/tariffs/cape-portal-launch-april-20/
tags: [playbook]
---

# CAPE Portal Launch: What Happens April 20

[← Back to Tariffs & Importing for Independent Retailers](/playbook/tariffs/)

Last updated April 11, 2026 — by AmyFay Chandler

On April 20, 2026, U.S. Customs and Border Protection is opening a new online tool called CAPE — Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries — and it is going to release the largest tariff refund window in modern American import history. Roughly $166 billion in IEEPA-based tariffs were collected from about 333,000 importers across 53 million entries between February 2025 and the Supreme Court ruling that struck them down. Ninety-seven percent of US importers are small businesses with fewer than 500 employees. Most of them have no idea that any of this is happening.

This is going to be the story in retail and small business circles by mid-summer, and it’s worth understanding what’s actually about to happen, what it means for you, and what to do this week if you want to be in the first wave of refund claimants instead of the last.

## What CAPE actually is

CAPE is a new module inside the existing ACE Portal at ace.cbp.gov. CBP designed it specifically to handle the flood of IEEPA refund claims they know are coming — essentially a simplified, batch-friendly version of the customs protest filing process that has historically required customs attorneys and brokers to navigate.

The big innovation: instead of filing a traditional customs protest for each entry — which has historically required customs attorneys and brokers to navigate — CAPE lets you batch-file via a single CSV Declaration uploaded through your ACE Secure Data Portal account. Historically, each refundable line had to be itemized on a paper-style protest, which is part of why so few small businesses ever filed protests in the past — the paperwork was prohibitive. CAPE is CBP’s acknowledgment that the refund window is unprecedented in scale and that the old process would have collapsed under the volume.

If you’ve ever filed a customs protest the old way, the difference is going to feel like switching from filing taxes by hand to using TurboTax. If you’ve never filed one, you’re about to be the lucky generation that didn’t have to learn the hard way.

## Who is eligible to file

The CAPE refund window only covers tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) — the legal authority the Supreme Court ruled the previous administration improperly used. In practical terms, that means:

- The “reciprocal” tariffs (the country-specific retaliation duties)

- The “fentanyl” or “trafficking” tariffs

- The “baseline” tariffs imposed under the same emergency declaration

It does not cover Section 232 tariffs (steel, aluminum, autos) or Section 301 tariffs (China-specific). Those were imposed under different legal authority and are still in effect — and they’re not part of this refund window.

If you’re not sure which tariffs you actually paid, your customs broker can tell you in twenty minutes. Or you can run the [Tariff Refund Eligibility Checker](https://tools.amyfaychandler.com/refund-checker) and get a rough answer in 90 seconds.

## How much money is actually on the table

The macro numbers are staggering: roughly $166 billion in IEEPA tariffs collected from about 333,000 importers across 53 million entries, plus 6% interest accruing on every dollar from the date of original payment. Ninety-seven percent of US importers are small businesses with fewer than 500 employees. The Center for American Progress found the average small-business importer paid around $306,000 more in tariffs in the year ending February 2026 than the year before — and mom-and-pop firms (fewer than 50 employees) paid about $175,000 more.

For most independent retailers reading this, the real number is going to be much smaller. If you imported $20,000 of goods in 2025 and IEEPA-coded duties were 15% of that, you’re looking at a $3,000 refund — plus roughly $270 in interest by the time you receive it in late summer or fall. Not life-changing, but not nothing either, and certainly worth the few hours of paperwork.

For larger independents who run multi-store operations or who source heavily overseas, the refunds can reach the $50,000+ range. Those are the cases where hiring a customs broker is worth it.

## What April 20 actually looks like

Here’s what we know about how the launch is going to unfold, based on CBP’s published guidance documents and the Q&A sessions they’ve been runn