Businesses have started applying to get their share of $166 billion in tariff refunds

On Monday morning, Sarah Wells woke up bright and early. The tariff refund portal was set to open at 8 a.m.

“Got on at 7:50 in the hopes that maybe I could be first in line, and I would say in under two or three minutes I had an accepted, no error, approved refund submission,” said Wells, owner of Sarah Wells Bags, which makes products for new moms.

The federal government has started accepting applications for tariff refunds. It owes businesses $166 billion after the Supreme Court ruled some of the Trump administration’s taxes, the IEEPA tariffs, were illegal.

Wells was surprised everything went so smoothly, especially after how hard it was to set up a refund account, the first step in the process.

“It’s cumbersome, it’s technologically kinda glitchy,” said Wells. “There’s a lot of terminology and acronyms that I had no idea what they meant.”

Wells hopes to get about $20,000 back from the government, including interest, in 60 to 90 days.

“I don’t think it’s going to sit in my account very long,” she said, because the company needs to stock up on inventory and pay other tariffs.

For the most part, it seems that the refund application process has been fairly drama-free. But it hasn’t come with much clarity for business owners.

“It’s been a really crazy time,” said Ashley Akers, a partner at Holland & Knight, whose clients range from small companies applying for thousands of dollars in refunds to large corporations owed millions. “Yesterday we fielded hundreds and hundreds of questions.”

Questions like: When can I collect the rest of the refund I’m owed?

“I’m not seeing a lot of clients who are going to get 100%,” said Akers. “It seems like a lot of businesses are going to get some early reprieve in this phase one, but are certainly still going to be waiting for additional refunds.”

Phase one of the tariff refund process covers about 60% of what’s owed. It means most companies will have to go through this all over again. And U.S. Customs and Border Protection hasn’t given a timeline for phase two.

It took Anne Robinson a few tries to get her $23,000 claim through the system. At around 3 p.m. she finally got to celebrate.

“I did like a touchdown move,” said Robinson, owners of a specialty grocery in Greensboro, North Carolina, called Scottish Gourmet USA, which sells products like whisky haggis sauce and shortbread. “Yay, I did it! It’s done!”

Kind of. Robinson still has to chase down $10,000 from FedEx, DHL, and UPS because though she paid tariffs on those shipments, the logistics companies were technically the importers and have to file claims on her behalf.

Meanwhile, she’s feeling uneasy. What if her claim is delayed or the government appeals the tariff ruling or finds a new way to make temporary tariffs in place permanent?

“I have to assume it’s at least as much that our government at this point in time is going to continue to try to find ways to take, out of the pockets of tens of thousands of small businesses in order to cover a huge deficit,” she said.

Even with a refund on the way, Robinson is operating her business with the same uncertainty she did a year ago.

“What’s going to come next?” she wondered. “I have no way of knowing what my pricing should be for fall and Christmas 2026.”

She needs to know soon. About now is when most businesses have to decide how much to manufacture, buy and import for the holidays.