Section 122 refund status: struck down, stayed, on appeal
Status as of September 23, 2026. The law is unsettled, and this page won't promise you a refund. These four facts are settled enough to plan around. Each one traces to a source in the list at the foot of the page.
Feb 20 – Jul 23, 2026
10% on most imports, until the law ran out
Proclamation 11012, signed February 20, 2026, imposed a 10% ad valorem surcharge (charged as a percentage of customs value) on most imports from 12:01 a.m. ET on February 24, 2026. Section 122 allows such a surcharge for up to 150 days at up to 15% unless Congress extends it, and the proclamation ran it through 12:01 a.m. ET on July 24, 2026.
May 7, 2026
The Court of International Trade ruled it unlawful
A divided panel held 2–1 that the proclamation exceeded the President's authority (Slip Op. 26-47). Section 122 speaks to "large and serious United States balance-of-payments deficits"; the proclamation relied on trade and current-account deficits, which the majority treated as legally distinct.
Relief was narrow
Refunds were ordered only for the plaintiffs
The court blocked collection and ordered refunds only for the three plaintiffs it found had standing: the importers Burlap and Barrel and Basic Fun, and the State of Washington. It declined to block collection nationwide, so there is no refund channel for anyone else. CBP's CAPE refund tool covers IEEPA duties only.
Jun 11, 2026 → pending
The ruling is on hold during the appeal
The government appealed on May 8, 2026. On June 11, 2026 the Federal Circuit stayed the judgment pending appeal, finding the government likely to succeed on the merits (Nos. 2026-1804 and 2026-1805). As of September 23, 2026 we found no decision on the merits. Whether other importers ever get refunds depends on how the appeal ends.
Read this before you rely on any number below. Nothing on this page is legal advice, and no refund is certain. What you can control is keeping the option open: a court decision that lands after your deadline cannot revive a claim you never filed.
Calculate what the surcharge cost you
Add one row per line on your entry summary (CBP Form 7501). The math runs in your browser; nothing is sent anywhere unless you click "Check with the duty engine" on a row.
| Entry date | Customs value (USD) | Origin (2-letter code) | HTS 10-digit optional | USMCA | Sec. 232 | Surcharge paid | Remove |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CA/MX only | — | ||||||
To check this line, enter a date inside the window, a 10-digit HTS code, a 2-letter origin code and a customs value. | |||||||
Surcharge paid on lines that look subject to it
$0.00
0 line(s) look subject · 0 look likely exempt. This is what you paid, not what you will get back: importers who were not plaintiffs cannot get a refund today.
How the calculator flags a line as likely exempt
The proclamation exempted several categories of goods through HTSUS subheadings 9903.03.02 through 9903.03.11. The calculator can check three of them. The fourth card lists what it cannot see.
USMCA-qualifying goods
Goods of Canada or Mexico that qualified for USMCA treatment were exempt. The checkbox only unlocks when the origin is CA or MX, because that is the only case where it applies.
Section 232 articles
Articles already subject to Section 232 measures (steel, aluminum, copper, lumber, autos and their derivative lists) were exempted rather than charged both.
The product annex, inferred from Census data
The annex covered critical minerals, bullion, energy, certain fertilizers, certain agricultural goods, pharmaceuticals, certain electronics, certain vehicles and parts, and certain aerospace products. Rather than transcribe it, we derived the lines from U.S. Census imports-for-consumption data for March–July 2026. Where the duty CBP actually calculated shows no surcharge on at least 80% of a line's trade value, the line is almost certainly inside an annex. That is an inference, so a match reads likely exempt per Census duty data, never exempt.
What it cannot see
Goods in transit (loaded on their final mode of transport before February 24, 2026 and entered before February 28, 2026), Chapter 98 provisions, and any annex exemption narrower than a full HTS line. If your goods fall into one of these, the calculator will overcount. Your entry summary is the record that settles it.
Deadlines that keep running: liquidation, PSC and protest
Liquidation is CBP's final calculation of the duty on an entry. CBP has published no Section 122 refund process, so neither route below is a confirmed path to a refund. They are the general windows your licensed customs broker works within, and the decision to use either one is theirs and yours.
Post-summary correction
A post-summary correction (PSC) amends the entry summary while the entry is still open. CBP accepts PSCs within 300 days of the date of entry and up to 15 days before the scheduled liquidation date, whichever comes first.
For IEEPA duties, CBP barred refund requests made by PSC. It has said nothing either way for Section 122, so treat this route as unsettled.
Protest, within 180 days
Once an entry liquidates, the general route to contest a CBP decision is a protest under 19 U.S.C. 1514, filed within 180 days of liquidation. Once that period has passed, the liquidation is generally final.
The clock runs from the liquidation date CBP posts for the entry, not from entry.
Liquidation comes about 314 days after entry
CBP's standard liquidation cycle is 314 days from entry. For entries dated February 24 to July 23, 2026 that points to roughly January to June 2027, unless CBP extends, suspends or liquidates an entry earlier. Each liquidation starts its own 180-day protest period.
The appeal runs on the court's schedule. Your deadlines don't wait for it.
What a filing needs from you
- CBP Form 7501 — the entry summary, one per entry. It shows the entry number, the HTS lines and the duty as calculated.
- Commercial invoice — ties the customs value to each line.
- Proof of payment — shows the duty was paid, and by whom.
- Liquidation date — from CBP's bulletin notice, for any entry that has already liquidated. It sets the 180-day deadline.
- Bill of lading and ACE entry data — help reconcile lines and answer in-transit questions.
Get your surcharge entries reviewed
Send us your entry summaries from February 24 to July 23, 2026. We'll total the surcharge lines and flag which entries have liquidated and which haven't. Airlift is an NVOCC, not a licensed customs broker: any filing is made by you as importer of record or by a licensed customs broker, and we can arrange that. If a claim doesn't look worth making, we'll say so.
A 10% ad valorem surcharge (a percentage of customs value) on most goods entered for consumption into the United States. Proclamation 11012, signed February 20, 2026, imposed it under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2132), which allows a surcharge of up to 15% for no more than 150 days unless Congress extends it. It applied from 12:01 a.m. Eastern on February 24, 2026, through 12:01 a.m. Eastern on July 24, 2026, the end of that 150-day period. Entries reported it under HTSUS heading 9903.03.01.
Yes, at the trial level, but that ruling is on hold. On May 7, 2026 the U.S. Court of International Trade held, 2-1, that the proclamation exceeded the President's authority under Section 122 (Slip Op. 26-47). The majority read the statute's "large and serious United States balance-of-payments deficits" as a specific balance-of-payments measure, and found the proclamation had instead relied on trade and current-account deficits, which it treated as legally distinct. The dissenting judge disagreed with that reading of the statute.
Not today, and not automatically. The court did not order government-wide refunds. It entered an injunction, with refunds of Section 122 duties plus interest, only for the three plaintiffs it found had standing: the importers Burlap and Barrel and Basic Fun, and the State of Washington. The government appealed on May 8, 2026. The Court of International Trade refused to stay its judgment on May 20, 2026, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit stayed it pending appeal on June 11, 2026, finding the government had made a sufficient showing that it is likely to succeed on the merits (Nos. 2026-1804 and 2026-1805). As of September 23, 2026, the Federal Circuit had not published a decision on the merits. Whether refunds ever reach importers who were not plaintiffs depends on how that appeal ends.
No. CAPE, the refund tool CBP opened in ACE on April 20, 2026, is for duties imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) only. As of September 23, 2026, CBP had published no refund process for Section 122 duties. If you also paid IEEPA duties before February 24, 2026, see the IEEPA refund check.
Because the deadlines on your entries run on their own clock, whatever happens in the appeal. Entries liquidate on CBP's normal cycle, and each liquidation starts the 180-day protest period in 19 U.S.C. 1514. Knowing which entries carry surcharge dollars, and when each one liquidates, lets you and your customs broker decide early whether to act on them.
That is unsettled, and it is a decision for your licensed customs broker or trade counsel. In general, a post-summary correction (PSC) can be filed within 300 days of the date of entry and at least 15 days before the scheduled liquidation date, and a protest can be filed within 180 days after liquidation. But CBP has issued no Section 122 guidance on either route, and for IEEPA duties CBP barred refund requests made by PSC. Neither route is a confirmed path to a Section 122 refund.
CBP's standard liquidation cycle is 314 days from the date of entry, so most surcharge-period entries fall due between early January and early June 2027 unless CBP extends, suspends or liquidates them earlier. Each liquidation starts its own 180-day protest period. The dates this page shows are estimates based on that 314-day cycle. The date that counts is the liquidation date CBP posts for your entry, so work from that.
The proclamation and CBP's guidance exempted several categories through HTSUS subheadings 9903.03.02 through 9903.03.11: goods already loaded and in transit on their final mode of transport before 12:01 a.m. on February 24, 2026 and entered before February 28, 2026; goods of Canada or Mexico entered under USMCA; certain CAFTA-DR textiles and apparel; articles subject to Section 232 measures; civil aircraft and parts; donations and informational materials; and a product annex covering critical minerals, metals used in currency and bullion, energy products, certain natural resources and fertilizers, certain agricultural products, pharmaceuticals and their ingredients, certain electronics, passenger vehicles and certain trucks and parts, and certain aerospace products. Whether a specific product fell inside the annex is a classification question for your customs broker.
Three ways. If you tell it the goods qualified under USMCA, or that they were subject to Section 232 measures, it treats the line as exempt on that basis. Otherwise it checks your 10-digit HTS code against a list built from U.S. Census imports-for-consumption data for March through July 2026: lines where the duty CBP actually calculated shows no surcharge on at least 80% of the trade value are very likely inside the product annex. That is an inference from published trade data, not a reading of the annex itself, which is why the page says "likely exempt" and never "exempt".
At minimum: CBP Form 7501 (the entry summary) for each entry, the commercial invoice, and proof that the duty was paid. Your broker's ACE entry data and the bill of lading help reconcile lines. If the entry has already liquidated, you also need the liquidation date, which starts the 180-day protest period.
For many origins, a separate set of duties under Section 301 took effect at 12:01 a.m. on July 24, 2026, on a different legal footing and with different rates and exemptions. Nothing on this page covers those duties. Use the tariff simulator for an estimate at today's date.
No. Airlift USA is an NVOCC and freight forwarder, not a licensed customs broker. A PSC or protest is filed by the importer of record or its licensed customs broker. We can pull your entry data together, identify the entries that carry surcharge dollars, and arrange the filing through a licensed customs broker. Whether a claim is worth making, and how to frame it, is a judgment your broker or trade counsel makes on your entries. This page is a starting point, not legal advice.
Sources
Every legal statement on this page traces to one of these primary sources. Last reviewed September 23, 2026. The appeal is still live, so check that date before relying on anything here. General information, not legal advice.
- The White House, Proclamation "Imposing a Temporary Import Surcharge to Address Fundamental International Payments Problems" (February 20, 2026) — The 10% rate, the February 24, 2026 start, the July 24, 2026 end, the in-transit rule and the exemption annex.
- Federal Register, Proclamation 11012, 91 FR 9339 (February 25, 2026) — The published text of the proclamation and its HTSUS annex.
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection, CSMS # 67844987, "Imposing Temporary Section 122 Duties" (February 23, 2026) — HTSUS 9903.03.01, the exemption subheadings 9903.03.02 to 9903.03.11, the in-transit cut-offs, and the 150-day period.
- 19 U.S.C. 2132, Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 — The 15% ceiling and the 150-day limit without an act of Congress.
- U.S. Court of International Trade, Slip Op. 26-47, Oregon v. United States and Burlap and Barrel, Inc. v. United States, Court Nos. 26-01472 and 26-01606 (May 7, 2026) — The 2-1 decision, the balance-of-payments reasoning, and relief limited to the State of Washington, Burlap and Barrel and Basic Fun.
- U.S. Court of International Trade, Slip Op. 26-53 (May 20, 2026) — The government's appeal of May 8, 2026, the Federal Circuit's administrative stay of May 12, 2026, and the trial court's refusal to stay its own judgment.
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, order granting stay pending appeal, State of Oregon v. Trump, Nos. 2026-1804, 2026-1805 (June 11, 2026) — The stay pending appeal and the finding that the government is likely to succeed. The court does not list this order on its opinions page; the link is the filed docket entry (Doc. 61) from the PACER court record, via CourtListener RECAP.
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection, IEEPA Duty Refunds (last modified September 2, 2026) — CAPE covers IEEPA duties only; CBP bars IEEPA refund requests by post-summary correction.
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Post Summary Corrections — The 314-day liquidation cycle and the PSC window (300 days from entry, up to 15 days before scheduled liquidation).
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Protests — The 180-day protest period after liquidation under 19 U.S.C. 1514.
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection, CSMS # 69326983, "GUIDANCE: Section 301 Forced Labor Import Duties" (July 23, 2026) — The Section 301 duties that took effect at 12:01 a.m. on July 24, 2026.
Related: the tariff refund guide explains IEEPA and Section 122 refunds side by side, the IEEPA tariff refund calculator covers the earlier IEEPA tariffs, tariff updates tracks every change, and the tariff simulator estimates duty at today's rates.