Tax refund? US Customs: Currently unable to do so

New York, March 6 (Xinhua) -- The US Customs and Border Protection submitted a statement to the US International Trade Court on March 6, stating that due to existing technology, processes, and human resource limitations, it is currently unable to refund tariffs imposed under the US International Emergency Economic Powers Act as per the court's ruling on March 4.

The US Customs and Border Protection stated that as of the 4th, over 330000 importers have submitted over 53 million customs declarations and prepaid or paid tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, involving approximately $166 billion in funds.

The US Customs and Border Protection said that according to the ruling of the US International Trade Court, the agency is now facing an unprecedented refund workload, and the existing processes and technology are not suitable for completing tasks of this scale. This institution stated that it is confident in developing and using the new features of its customs declaration system, optimizing the process of tariff refunds and interest payments, and is working hard to make the new features ready in 45 days. This means that the tariff refund process may begin at the end of April.

On February 20th, the US Supreme Court announced a ruling that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act did not authorize the President to impose large-scale tariffs. On March 4th, a judge of the US International Trade Court ruled in a lawsuit that the US Customs and Border Protection should not impose tariffs under the US International Emergency Economic Powers Act during tariff clearance. This means that the tariffs previously levied under this law need to be refunded.