r/CustomsBroker

source: https://es-003.com/cape-refund-came-short

A few of these have been showing up in TREAS 449 and partial-refund threads. Five distinct mechanisms, each visible in a different place.

Funds Diverted under 19 CFR § 24.72. CBP-level offset against an outstanding CBP debt. REV-603 Refund Secondary Status shows "Funds Diverted" (column added in CSMS #68536553, May 4). Bank still shows CBP TREAS 310.

Treasury Offset Program under 31 CFR § 285.5. Treasury-level offset against unrelated federal debt — defaulted SBA loans, IRS back taxes, federal student loans, child support. Bank code switches to TCS TREAS 449. TOP IVR 800-304-3107 identifies the creditor agency.

Entry-level netting under 19 CFR § 159.1. Reliquidation nets all over- and under-payments across the whole entry, not just IEEPA. MPF or Section 301 underdeposit pulls the IEEPA refund down.

Principal and interest in separate ACH. ES-022 lists them as separate columns. Treasury can wire them days apart.

Partial declaration acceptance. Per CSMS #68340863, ACE drops failed entries and keeps processing the rest. CAPE Tab shows per-entry rejection reasons.

Diagnosis order: bank code (310 vs 449) → REV-603 Secondary Status → ES-022 vs deposit total → CAPE Tab.

Hello,

Does anyone here believe that becoming certified as a freight forwarder while working in customs brokerage? Thank you very much.

Trying to get reports has been slower then molasas but at least I could get in. Now… when clicking reports in ACE I get a blank white screen. Sometimes three blue bubbles showing it’s thinking but never past that. I’ve deleted browser cookies and all that, tried Incognito, tried Microsoft edge… two days+ of this… even restarted the computer overnight.

The ACE availability dashboard today (just found that) shows all is available. Mot even “slow/degraded”…

Any one know how to fix this?

I currently over see the drayage trucking for all of a very large domestic freight brokerage and have been with this company for 10+ years. I am in the process of getting my customs broker license, really to try to expand my horizons and open some new avenues with our business and new opportunities. I do not have experience in forwarding/clearance.

If you're a LCB and you're me, what would you do?

Posting this on behalf of my colleague. She's been trying to get a resolution from ACE Support for three weeks, and no one she has reached on the phone has been able to help. The tickets submitted for this issue -- one by her directly and the other by the tech support rep she spoke to on the phone -- have been closed without resolution and, per the tech support rep she spoke to yesterday, without being reviewed.

She is the trade account owner for one of our entities. The entity has a valid CF5106. It has the importer subaccount set up. She has checked her user settings, and she does have access to working withe ACH Refund bank details and authorization tab. She's followed the instructions from CBP on how to add ACH refund bank account details: log into ACE as TAO, go to the importer subaccount, go to the ACH Refund Authorization tab, no bank details shown, add the bank account details, and submit. ACE says the bank details were successfully submitted. When she refreshes the ACH Refund Authorization tab, there are no details shown.

Does anyone have any ideas on what might be the issue? Or something we're missing? Or anything else we can try?

I've been trying to resolve this issue with ACE Support since April 15th without success. I created a new top account and importer subaccount for new importing entity. I'm shown as the primary contact on the CF5106. I used the ACE application to do the account creation. I got the confirmation email with my account ID and instructions on how to create a login account.

When trying to create a new user account, it said an account with my email address already existed. Odd, because I've never been in ACE before. I looked into it back in 2022, but I never followed through with getting ACE access because the instructions seemed complicated and I needed to set aside time to read through everything. But maybe I did and just cannot remember doing the application back then.

When I try to log into ACE via ace.cbp.gov, I can enter my email and password. It's accepted. I go to the 2FA process, get the security token via email, and the security token is accepted. I agree to accept the terms of use for ACE. And then as ACE tries to load I get this error:

>There was an error logging you in

>We encountered an error logging you in. We apologize for any inconvience. We recommend that you close all browser windows, clear any browser cache, and try again. If this does not remediate the issue, please visit cbp.gov/trade/automated/ace-portal-modernization for support. If there are error details provided below, please include them when reaching out to support.

>Error Details: Error: Sorry! Login User Email Not Found

I've spoke to four tech support reps via phone so far. I've submitted numerous tickets on my own in addition to the tickets the tech support reps have submitted on my behalf. I'm being told it looks like I'm successfully logging in on their end, but I don't know how accurate that is. Last week I received an email from ACE Support on Tuesday advising my ACE account had been reactivated followed by an email from ACE Support on Thursday advising that my ACE account was not found and giving me links to the New ACE Portal Top Account Applications.

Anyone have any idea on what could be going on and anything else I can try to resolve?

I’ve been seeing more cases of what look like foreign shippers making U.S. companies so their entry clears under 1 American company rather than a foreign importer / US Consignee.

Are there any publications from customs or regulations on this? Maybe a regulation requiring a permanent resident / citizen as a contact? It feels sketchy for sure. Technically the “Shell Corp” has a U.S. address, tax #, state registration, contact info, but does CBP have explicit requirements that make it a legit company vs not? The person of contact even looks like they’re a foreigner (foreign ID).

I’m curious how others have dealt with that, if you know of customs addressing this kind of situation that’d be amazing.

Bit confused about this CSMS # 68674937

So they are now limiting what HTS can be submitted by an importer?

Please be advised that an updated version of the ACE CATAIR Error Dictionary V46 has been posted under Draft Chapters: Future Capabilities section on CBP.gov. This update includes the following:

· F865: HTS NOT ALLOWED FOR IMPORTER

One or more tariff numbers transmitted in the AE is not eligible for the submitted Importer of Record.

I've been in the industry for a little over a decade now, but strictly on the clearance/release/entry processing side of things (working for a couple different brokers). I got my license recently and was hoping to move to a role with an importer for the better pay and benefits, but I'm not sure what I should be looking for.

I frankly don't think I have the experience to be making major compliance related decisions without some level of oversight. Is there some sort of "in between" option that might be a good fit that's a step down from the "Head of compliance" type roles I see for LCBs? I know enough to pinpoint major areas of risk, but I'm not going to be able to rattle off requirements from memory for various scenarios like I know people who have been in compliance a while can. I'm also still only just learning what the best resources are to go to for "ground truth" since there are so many out there (CROSS, various PGA websites, etc.).

3 weeks since i sent application to open importer sub still nothing ,, what shall we do ?

Is there a PSC report in ACE? Or which field in ES003
If there’s a field showing PSC, will it show up once trade/broker files PSC, or until CBP accepts the PSC?

Hi all. Hoping someone can help me out with an issue. I tried to sign up to submit IEEPA claims. When I entered our importer information it let me know that we already had an account. Myself nor anyone left in our organization know the login details or have any record of this account. The previous management of sourcing was very sloppy with records. I have sent several requests for help but they have remained unanswered. Could anyone point me in another direction? Thanks!

Quick question. Client has some merchandise under a bonded warehouse entry at our facility. Part of it is to be destroyed. How do I document the withdrawal of the portion of the shipment being destroyed? Can I do a WDIE if the shipment is being destroyed in the same port code or do I have to process a type 31? If the type 31 is to be processed… what mechanism do I have to use to not pay duty for the withdrawn portion? I use RB systems, if y’all are curious.

Hi !

 

I would like to discuss a potential business opportunity where we believe there could be strong mutual collaboration between our companies.

We are currently working with a customer in China who handles regular DDP shipments from China to the USA. The client is among the major sellers on Amazon, with continuous cargo movement to multiple Amazon warehouses across different cities and regions within the United States.

From our side, we can comfortably manage the complete China-origin operations, including booking coordination, cargo handling, and export procedures. However, for the USA side, we are currently looking for a reliable and experienced partner who can support us with:

• Importer of Record (IOR) services
• Customs clearance
• Domestic transportation and final delivery to Amazon warehouses

Considering your experience and presence in the market, we believe this could be a promising opportunity for long-term cooperation between both parties.

Please let us know if this is something your team would be interested in discussing further. We would be happy to arrange a call and share additional shipment details, estimated volumes, and operational requirements.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

REV-615 shows Treasury ACH Trace # for Refund Date 5/5/2026, my company as Payee ID, the Claim Number is ours, our ACH is set up and REV-613 shows no rejected ACH transfers. But we received no refund. (We've received others on different Consolidated Refund IDs.) These entries were entered by FedEx, which filed duplicate CAPE claims for all their entries (without asking their customers), but their Claim Number is not on this REV-615 that correlates with the Consolidated Refund ID. I conclude FedEx still must somehow have received it, and I want to keep them from getting the IEEPA we paid on their other entries we've got Approved claims for. Is there a way to do that?

Edit: I learned one needs to remove their Notify Party designation from the portal. If they have an active CF-4811 on file and are listed as a Notify Party, they will get the refund.

Hi anyone trying to pull a ES-022 Entry Summary Report today? Getting error message? Saying message not found?

Use this thread to share weekly professional development offerings (LCB CE, CCS, CES, MCS, MES, etc.).

I’m trying to better understand where Customs Brokers and Importers of Record are getting stuck with the CAPE / IEEPA refund process.

From what I’m seeing, the biggest confusion does not seem to be only “how do I file?”

It seems to be what happens after filing.

For example:

• CAPE declaration submitted, but unclear whether it was accepted
• ACE showing movement, but no refund has hit the bank
• ACH refund enrollment issues
• REV-603 showing one thing, but the client expects another
• REV-613 / ACH rejection questions
• REV-615 detail not matching expectations
• ES-022 or refund reporting not giving enough clarity
• Importer asking the broker for answers before the broker has enough information
• Confusion over who should be tracking the refund: broker, IOR, CBP, or Treasury

I’m putting together a plain-English checklist that breaks down the refund process from filing through tracking, reporting, ACH, and follow-up.

Before I finalize it, I’d really like feedback from people actually dealing with this.

What is the most confusing part right now?

1. Filing authority
2. CAPE acceptance
3. Refund timing
4. ACH refund setup
5. ACE reports
6. Explaining the status to clients
7. Something else

Even a short answer would help. I’m especially interested in what questions clients are asking brokers that are hard to answer clearly.

Not legal advice. I’m just trying to organize the practical process in a way that is easier for brokers and importers to understand.

Submitted saturday 4/25 and received ach friday 5/15. However, not all accepted entries were refunded, only saw some of them on the REV603 report.

- Only 3 of 14 entries (throughout 2025 and 2026) were refunded

- All the refunds were liquidated entries.

- There are still some liquidated entries that did not get refunded.

- Appeared to have ~5.5% interest baked into it.

How many of you have received second wave of refunds?

Read about the e-Sanchit workflow online and couldn't believe it's still done this way. Is this actually how it works at most firms?

How much time does it eat per day?

Asking because I'm exploring if automating this is even worth building. Your answers would genuinely help.