r/CustomsBroker

ACH received today 5/11/26 (this was an entry that showed a refund date of 5/5/26)

Orig Co Name: CBP TREAS 310

The remark shows the refund amount and the interest amount.

RMT*ZZ*DDDDDDDDDDD********RRRRRR.RRIIIII.II xxxxxxxxxx 00000000NNNNNNNN\

UPDATED:

where:
DDDDDDDDDDD is the one of the Document Numbers (Entry Number) included in this refund as shown in the REV-615 refund report

RRRRRR.RR is the refund amount (without interest)

IIIII.II is the interest amount (shown as Refund Interest Amount on the REV-603)

NNNNNNNN is the Refund ID as shown on the REV-615 refund report

I'm an accountant at a small importer firm, and I have zero experience with customs and brokerage. I've been tasked with handling IEEPA tariff refunds, so apologies in advance if these are stupid questions – please explain like I'm a toddler.

Here's where I'm stuck:

• I applied for an ACE Portal account on April 17 and still haven't heard back.
• I've tried calling support multiple times – no response.
• Our broker offered to handle everything for a commission of $125 per entry.

My main concern is: does the broker need our ACE Portal to be active in order to file on our behalf? Or can they submit the CAPE Declaration using their own portal access?

I'm sure preparing a CSV file and submitting it through the CAPE portal isn't that difficult, but our portal isn't active yet. I know CBP is overloaded right now and approvals are taking forever, but I'm afraid we're going to miss the deadline.

So my question is: Is there any way to submit a CAPE Declaration without an active ACE Portal? Or can our broker help us without needing our portal to be active?

Thanks in advance for any guidance.

Broker here. I’ve got a number of IOR who are too fucking lazy to file their own refund declaration. We’re charging a reasonable fee per entry (not percentage of refund). We give them a spreadsheet with the data (out of our software) and they keep coming back expecting data to be manipulated different ways. The total refund shows right under the duty column and I keep getting asked “is that my refund?” No fucking shit, you fucking idiot. It’s actually labeled refund. Can you be more fucking stupid? OMG, these fucking idiots.

For those who received the funds already,

have you received all the refunds at once ?

or most likely there will be several refunds (split) ?

I come from many years of freight forwarding but had a customs broker do all our entries so i never touched it. Now I'm in the middle of a very large brokerage. My managers just tell me what to click and when to do it but I have no grasp of what is going on and its pretty frustrating. What resources can this group recommend so I can at least understand the A -> B of what the job is?

The title pretty much says it all. I always had a bit of a lingering doubt that it would actually happen, so it's hard not to be relieved seeing it hit our account. I'd anticipate a lot of traffic on the ACE Portal today, so I guess we should brace for that.

Still, please chime in if you're seeing a deposit as well.

We submitted nearly 600+ entries. The first entries with refunds issued were our oldest lines. However, the second refund list is our highest dollar entries (even though some of those are relatively recent). I am assuming they are trying to limit their interest exposure. Curious if anyone else has noticed this.

I was curious about whether anyone here has more than one remote job in Trade/Brokerage? My job takes up maybe 20hrs a week and I'm curious whether I could double up.

So far, i have seen nobody got the refund yet.

I checked with people around me.

Our refunds are being handled by our customs broker in the USA who helped us clear all the shipments on arrival.

They say the IEEPA claims have all been filed through their own customs broker account. They have shown us a CBP acceptance file with a list of entries.

They say once the entries start to liquidate/reliquidate they will show in our CAPE report (ES-022).

Does anyone know if this is the case and when they might show up? They’re not there now in our own portal. Acceptance CBP file was received back April 22nd.

Thanks for advice.

We’re running into a practical issue with CAPE filings and wanted to see how others are handling this.

We no longer work with the original broker who filed many of our entries, but as I understand it, only the IOR or the original filing broker can submit the CAPE declaration.

In this situation:

- Are people having the IOR file directly (with support from a new broker)?

- Is anyone using TAO access and having a new broker assist with the submission?

- Or are you going back to the original broker just for CAPE?

Curious how this is being handled in practice, especially for companies that have switched brokers.

We’re expecting ~$1M in refunds and got about $100k refunded today in a single wire payment.

We had >100 entries total that were submitted for refunds.

We submitted April 20th within 10 minutes of CAPE opening.

Where can we cross-reference to check what actually was refunded? So we know what was paid and what still is coming?

I need a little guidance here.

When I run ES-003 report it states that 11 entries will be refunded 5/11/26. However, we did not receive this.

When I run REV-613, REV-603 and REV-615. They are all blank.

We have our ACH updated on the ACE portal.

Please help

Hi everyone, I recently discovered this community and I've been genuinely impressed by the depth of experience and knowledge here. I've learned a lot just from reading through the posts, and I'm looking for guidance from people who actually work in this field.

I'm an international trade analyst based in Morocco, finishing my Master's in International Trade this month. I have a background as a Global Trade and Customs Compliance Analyst from a 5-month internship at the Moroccan customs authority.

I'm planning to relocate to the US in about 2-3 years (though if the right opportunity comes through sooner, I would seriously consider it), and I'm genuinely interested in the customs brokerage field.

A few questions for those of you in the industry:

1. How realistic is it to break into US customs brokerage as a foreign-trained customs professional? Does international customs administration experience, particularly in port operations and compliance, carry weight with US employers?
2. Which employers or firms should I be aware of for entry-level customs brokerage positions?
3. What should I prioritize in the next 2-3 years to make myself competitive in this field?

I appreciate any honest input and i'm happy to share more about my background if helpful.

Edit: Thank you to those who clarified that the CHB requires U.S. citizenship. Since that's the case, is it realistic to work in customs brokerage roles without the license initially, building on my skills and international customs experience?

Thank you!

Hi all,

I’m hoping someone here can point me in the right direction.

I imported a ~$2,700 watch from Japan via DHL and paid about $330 in import duties. The watch turned out to be defective, and I’m now returning it to the seller for a full refund.

I understand this qualifies for a duty drawback through U.S. Customs and Border Protection, but:

• Self-filing requires ABI access and setup that isn’t practical for a one-off claim
• Most brokers seem to have minimum fees that exceed the amount I’m trying to recover

Has anyone here dealt with a similar situation?

Specifically:

• Any brokers willing to handle small, one-off claims on a contingency basis?
• Any simpler path I might be missing for low-value returned goods?

I have all documentation (import entry, duty payment, return shipment, invoices, etc.).

Appreciate any guidance. Thanks!

I'm looking for good trade news sources that are hopefully free. Or do I need to keep my NYT subscription?

Hello,

I am setting up my business to import into the US from overseas. I have already started the EIN application to become a non-resident IOR, and now I'm looking into the continuous customs bond requirement.

1. Where is the best place to purchase a continuous bond (price-wise and service-wise)?
2. Why is there such a price difference between different brokers and surety companies? Are there specific factors I should be looking for?

Please let me know if I’ve misunderstood any part of this process or if there are other steps I should be aware of. I’d really appreciate your guidance.

I'd appreciate any insights or recommendations you might have. Thank you!