Importers may face risks if they have multiple brokers file their requests for refunds of International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariffs, specifically for tariffs being returned to non-resident importers, industry officials said at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America annual conference on April 15.
Michael Brown, CEO of Avalon Risk Management, said there are risks to that. For example, if a company has three brokers and only two are notify parties, he said it appears that if each broker makes their declaration, the two brokers would get the money back through Form 4811 for entries they filed.
A company needs a U.S. bank account to receive a refund, or a Notify Party through Form 4811 to receive a refund on their behalf. Brown said he doesn’t know what may happen to the rest of the refund money for that third broker who didn't have 4811 access.
Sharolyn McCann, director of CBP's Commercial Operations, Revenue and Entry Division, said on a webinar April 16 that importers can file a post summary correction to change the notify party for a refund, as long as it's filed before the CAPE declaration is submitted (see 2604160081). CAPE is CBP’s Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries tool, designed for facilitating the IEEPA refunds electronically.
Brown also said there are concerns about handling the money for sureties. One is that CBP said they don’t have a methodology to return money to the sureties, as CBP doesn’t know who paid them.
“I questioned, ‘don't you have a field with ACE that knows the payer?’ He said, ‘we actually do, but we've never used it,’” Brown said.
Brown said CBP asked sureties to provide CBP with lists of entries where they've paid IEEPA duties.
Brown said insurance companies can’t be payors or payees in the process, as only brokers or importers can be, so CBP suggested sureties reapply for an ACE subaccount as an importer. He said the help desk has been giving different guidance than headquarters. He said his company "struggled" to set up an ACE account.
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