A common question from importers considering a claim sale: what if we passed the tariff costs to our customers through higher prices? The answer is clear under U.S. customs law, and the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling in Learning Resources v. Trump (February 2026) reinforces it.
The Legal Framework
Under U.S. customs law, the importer of record is the party liable for duties and the party entitled to refunds. The fact that tariff costs were incorporated into product pricing does not extinguish the importer’s claim. The Court’s ruling creates a refund right for the party that paid the duties — the importer of record — covering duties collected under HTS headings 9903.01 and 9903.02 between February 2025 and February 2026.
This principle is well established in customs jurisprudence and reinforced by 19 USC 1514, which governs the protest and refund process. The refund obligation runs between the government and the duty-paying entity. Downstream commercial arrangements — however the importer chose to price its products — are separate transactions that do not alter the government’s refund liability. The $166 billion refund pool flows back to importers of record, regardless of pricing decisions made after the duties were assessed.
Downstream Pass-Through
Most importers incorporated IEEPA tariff costs into their pricing — that is the economic reality of a 10-145% duty increase. This does not affect claim ownership or the right to assign. The claim belongs to the entity that paid the duties to CBP.
The distinction matters: the refund is of duties paid, not of costs borne. Your customers paid higher prices for your products. You paid duties to the government. The refund returns government-collected duties to the entity that paid them.
Some importers worry that accepting a refund while having passed costs downstream creates a legal exposure. In practice, absent a specific contractual obligation to rebate tariff savings to customers, the importer retains full ownership of the claim. Review your supply agreements to confirm, but most standard commercial terms do not include duty-refund sharing provisions. Trade attorneys in the partner network at tariffpartners.com can review specific contractual language if needed.
Partial Pass-Through Scenarios
Many importers absorbed a portion of the tariff increase while passing the remainder to buyers. This blended approach — common in competitive markets where full pass-through would have meant losing accounts — does not complicate the claim. The refund calculation is based entirely on duties paid to CBP, not on how much of that cost was absorbed versus passed through.
Even in cases where importers provided tariff surcharge line items on invoices to customers, the legal analysis remains the same. The surcharge was a pricing mechanism. The duty payment was a government obligation. These are distinct transactions with distinct counterparties. The ACE system records and CF-7501 entry summary forms document the government obligation independently of any downstream pricing.
Implications for Claim Sales
Importers who passed through tariff costs can sell their claims on the same terms as those who absorbed the costs. The assignment agreement transfers the government receivable — not customer pricing adjustments. Our non-recourse terms mean the risk of any downstream dispute transfers entirely to the buyer upon closing.
Understanding what the closing documents look like may help clarify how the assignment is structured. The transaction is specifically scoped to the government receivable — your commercial relationships and customer pricing remain entirely untouched. Each entry is identified by Entry Summary Number and HTS classification, tying the assignment directly to the CBP obligation rather than to any commercial arrangement.
For importers with large portfolios that include both absorbed and passed-through entries, a partial assignment strategy may be worth evaluating. Selling a portion of the claim provides immediate capital while retaining the remainder for direct government recovery through the CAPE portal.
The Accounting Treatment
From a financial reporting perspective, the IEEPA refund is a receivable from the U.S. government. Whether the importer absorbed or passed through the original tariff cost does not change the accounting classification of the refund. A claim sale converts that government receivable into cash at closing — a straightforward receivables transaction that most accounting teams and auditors will recognize.
For a full assessment of claim ownership and all recovery paths, tariffresolution.com provides comprehensive guidance. To check whether your entries fall within the affected HTS codes and date range, the free tool at tariffrefundchecker.com provides an initial screening.
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