CAPE Takes Unreconciled Entries, but the Refund Turns on Filing Order
CBP's Phase 2 CAPE deployment opens the IEEPA refund path for unreconciled entries, but the refund route depends on filing CAPE before type 09.
Primary lensEntry posture review
Sub-topicCAPE processing
Evidence base4 records used
Use caseRefund posture
CSMS #69035485 opens the IEEPA refund path for unreconciled entries without widening who qualifies
This is a sequencing brief, not an eligibility brief. CSMS #69035485 does not widen who qualifies for an IEEPA refund. It lets CBP's refund tool accept a subset of entries it had been rejecting. Effective June 29, 2026, the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) tool will take entries flagged for reconciliation in entry types 01, 02, and 06 where no reconciliation entry (type 09) has yet been filed. For importers who routinely flag entries for value, classification, 9802, or FTA reconciliation, a previously stranded category of IEEPA duty exposure becomes refundable. The condition is sequencing. The CAPE declaration must be filed before the type 09, and the entry must still sit within the window CBP states in the notice. The duties being recovered carry statutory interest, so the dollars are real. The risk is not the dollars. It is the order. File the type 09 first, or let the window lapse, and the entry loses the CAPE path under this phase.
CSMS #69035485 is a filing and systems notice, not a tariff action. It opens the next CAPE phase to one specific population. Entries flagged for reconciliation that do not yet carry a type 09 can now enter the IEEPA refund pipeline. Everything else in the Phase 1 framework stays in place. What falls out of this is a sequencing rule. File CAPE first and reconcile second. The tariff stack underneath IEEPA does not move, and entries that fall outside the window or already carry a type 09 belong in the ordinary preservation file. This analysis is current as of June 26, 2026.
What the notice does
CSMS #69035485 is a narrow notice about systems and filing, not a tariff action. It implements the next increment of CAPE inside ACE. The legal predicate is the Supreme Court's February 20, 2026 decision in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, which held that IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs. CAPE is the refund tool CBP built inside ACE in response to the CIT's refund implementation orders after that decision. Phase 1 has been live since April 20, 2026. It accepts unliquidated entries and recently liquidated entries within CBP's stated window, but it rejects entries flagged for reconciliation. CSMS #69035485 removes that one rejection. Entries flagged for reconciliation in types 01, 02, and 06, where the type 09 has not yet been filed, are now accepted. All Phase 1 filing and processing requirements remain in effect, and CBP directs filers to the Phase 1 deployment message, CSMS #68340863, for detail.
The controlling filing window is CBP's operational CAPE window stated in the notice. For this Phase 2 population, the entry must be unliquidated or within the 80 day window after liquidation stated in CSMS #69035485, and no type 09 reconciliation entry may already be on file. That 80 day CAPE window should not be confused with secondary summaries that describe the broader 90 day reliquidation frame.
The mechanic is order of filing. Once a flagged entry is accepted on a CAPE declaration, the trade may then file the reconciliation entry. CAPE removes the IEEPA duties from the flagged entry before the reconciliation entry is filed, separating the IEEPA refund calculation from the reconciliation calculation. CBP's stated logic is that once the type 09 is filed, it will assume all CAPE declarations associated with the reconciled entries were filed and accepted, and the underlying entries will no longer be eligible for a CAPE declaration in this phase. In plain terms, file CAPE first and reconcile second. Entries for which the reconciliation entry is already on file are excluded from the June 29 deployment and pushed to a future phase that CBP has not dated. Where a reconciliation deadline is close to expiring, and CBP uses less than 30 days as the marker, importers and filers should prioritize filing the reconciliation rather than wait for CAPE.
Why it came now
The timing follows the refund implementation track in the CIT, not a new tariff policy choice. After the Supreme Court's decision, the CIT ordered CBP to liquidate unliquidated IEEPA entries and to reliquidate liquidated entries that were not yet final, in each case without the IEEPA duties, then suspended immediate compliance so CBP could build a tool able to process refunds at scale. In its filings to the CIT, CBP represented that more than 330,000 importers paid or deposited approximately $166 billion in IEEPA duties over more than 53 million entries, and that processing those refunds manually would have required roughly 4.4 million working hours. That volume is the reason CBP built CAPE rather than issuing refunds entry by entry. CBP's court filings placed reconciliation entries on the phased CAPE implementation track. CSMS #69035485 is the operational notice that executes that track.
What changes in practice
The change is bounded but valuable. Entries flagged for reconciliation that were bounced from Phase 1 can now enter the consolidated refund pipeline, provided they are unliquidated or within the stated window and carry no type 09 yet. The refund is computed under the Phase 1 method. ACE strips the IEEPA HTSUS Chapter 99 provisions from the entry summary lines, recalculates the duties as if IEEPA had never applied, and consolidates the refund by importer of record, or the designated CBP Form 4811 party, and by liquidation date, with interest under 19 CFR 24.36. Per CBP's program page, valid IEEPA refunds are generally issued within 60 to 90 days after the CAPE declaration is accepted, unless a compliance concern requires further review. The change creates a sequencing obligation that did not bite before. An importer who would ordinarily file the reconciliation entry on its own cadence must now hold the type 09 until CAPE clears, unless the deadline is within 30 days.
The change does not touch the tariff stack. IEEPA duties are refundable. The duties sitting beneath them are not. Section 232 duties on steel, aluminum, copper, autos and derivatives, Section 301 duties on goods of Chinese origin, AD/CVD duties, and ordinary Column 1 duties all remain payable and are unaffected by the Supreme Court ruling. CAPE recalculates the entry net of IEEPA only, so an importer can receive an IEEPA refund and still owe, or even be billed, on the same entry if the other duties were underpaid. For framework rate entries that combined Column 1 duties with IEEPA duties, only the IEEPA portion comes back. The Column 1 component stays.
The June 29 deployment should not be described as an AD/CVD phase. The notice addresses entries flagged for reconciliation in types 01, 02, and 06 where no type 09 has been filed. Entries with an AD/CVD overlay remain a separate posture question unless CBP expressly brings them into a later CAPE deployment, and they may be constrained where liquidation remains suspended pending the underlying proceeding. Some secondary summaries have described the phase more broadly. The notice text and CBP's FAQ are controlling. They do not confirm AD/CVD inclusion in the June 29 deployment.
What importers and counsel should do
Start by segmenting the entry portfolio by reconciliation flag and by liquidation posture. Pull the entries flagged for reconciliation in types 01, 02, and 06 that carry IEEPA Chapter 99 lines. Within that set, isolate the entries still unliquidated or within the stated window that carry no type 09. Those are the Phase 2 candidates.
Then impose a sequencing rule. Do not file the type 09 on a candidate entry until the CAPE declaration is accepted, unless the reconciliation deadline is inside 30 days, in which case file the reconciliation and deposit the duties owed without the IEEPA increase. Reconciliation deadlines are unforgiving. They run 12 months for FTA flags and 21 months for value, classification, and 9802, and no extensions are granted, so the 30 day exception will govern a meaningful share of older flags.
Check origin, classification, and valuation again before submitting. A CAPE declaration is a certification, and CBP has signaled that it is using CAPE data for enforcement. Filing on an entry with a known valuation or classification error can turn a refund request into an enforcement file. Where the underlying entry is wrong, fix it by Post Summary Correction first, since a PSC cannot be used to claim the IEEPA refund itself, and consider whether a prior disclosure is warranted before seeking the CAPE refund. Confirm ACH enrollment and Form 4811 designations in ACE as well. Consolidated refunds will not transmit without valid banking data, and CBP will offset the refund against undisputed debts owed to it.
What would change the calculus
The preservation question moves outside CAPE once an entry is finally liquidated, already reconciled, or otherwise unavailable for this phase. At that point the file becomes a protest and litigation timing question rather than a CAPE sequencing question. For material volumes outside CAPE's current administrative path, counsel should evaluate whether protest practice, meaning a protest under 19 U.S.C. 1514 within 180 days of liquidation, or a protective action at the CIT is needed to preserve the refund claim.
The litigation track changes the posture for entries outside this phase. On June 2, 2026 the government appealed the CIT's universal refund orders to the Federal Circuit, arguing that the court cannot extend relief to importers who never filed their own actions. CBP has indicated that it will refund finally liquidated entries, the planned later phase targeted for late July 2026, only for importers who have filed suit at the CIT. Claims preserved through litigation may follow a different payment and offset posture than administrative CAPE refunds, but that question should be assessed entry by entry.
Caveats
Two points limit confidence. First, the 80 day window is taken from CSMS #69035485, and some public summaries describe the CAPE window as 90 days, so the figure should be read against the notice itself rather than against secondary coverage. Second, several dollar figures in this brief come from CBP court filings and from law firm reporting of those filings, so they are reported rather than independently audited.
Bottom line
CSMS #69035485 does not change the tariff stack. It changes the filing sequence for one stranded refund population. Entries flagged for reconciliation with no type 09 on file can now move into CAPE if they remain within the window CBP states. The operational rule is simple. File CAPE first and reconcile second. Entries already reconciled, outside the window, or tied to unresolved AD/CVD liquidation posture remain outside this deployment and move into the ordinary preservation file. Counsel who segment entries correctly, hold the reconciliation filing until CAPE clears, clean up classification and valuation before certifying, and preserve entries outside this phase through protest or CIT practice will be best positioned to recover the IEEPA amount. Those who file the type 09 first, or let the window lapse, lose the CAPE path under this phase. They do not necessarily lose the underlying claim.