Effective July 7, 2026, U.S. Customs and Border Protection stopped accepting warehouse entries (Entry Types 21 and 22) on CAPE Declarations, the electronic filing mechanism importers and brokers use to request IEEPA duty refunds through the ACE Portal. Any warehouse entry submitted with a CAPE Declaration is now rejected outright, returning an “ENTRY TYPE NOT ALLOWED” error. This is a narrow but important operational change for any importer using bonded warehouse entry types as part of their IEEPA refund strategy.
What Changed
Warehouse entries (Types 21, 22) are no longer accepted on CAPE Declarations. Warehouse withdrawals (Types 31, 32, 34, and 38), however, continue to be accepted because IEEPA duties on warehoused merchandise are assessed at the time of withdrawal rather than at initial entry. CBP will process approved IEEPA refunds on warehouse withdrawals submitted via CAPE Declarations only after the associated warehouse entry has been liquidated or reliquidated. The standard CBP liquidation process for warehouse entries is unchanged and will still occur only after all withdrawals from that entry are completed.
This modification followed a related July 8, 2026 Federal Register notice in which CBP reaffirmed how it isolates IEEPA-refundable duty at the individual entry-line level, distinguishing it from antidumping/countervailing duty remedies, Section 232 tariffs, taxes, and fees that remain owed and collected as usual. Importers of record submit refund requests directly through the ACE Portal or through a licensed customs broker acting on their behalf; either path requires an active, up-to-date ACE Portal account.
Why It Matters
Brokers or importers who have been routing bonded-warehouse merchandise through entry-level CAPE Declarations will need to adjust their filing workflow to avoid rejected submissions. The practical effect is to push the refund claim point downstream, from entry to withdrawal, for any goods held in a bonded warehouse before final release.
Action Items for Importers
- Confirm with your customs broker whether any pending or planned CAPE Declarations involve warehouse Entry Types 21 or 22, and redirect those claims to the associated withdrawal instead.
- For goods already in a bonded warehouse, plan for refund processing to occur after the warehouse entry is liquidated or reliquidated, not at the time of the original entry filing.
- Verify your ACE Portal account and broker authorizations are current, since both entry and withdrawal-based CAPE filings depend on active account status.
- For broader context on refund totals, the Federal Circuit appeal, and the CAPE Phase 3 rollout for finally liquidated entries, see our recent IEEPA Refunds Update.
ASK ALBA™: Have bonded warehouse entries that may be affected by this change? Contact our trade compliance team.
References
Federal Register: CBP Notice on IEEPA Refund Processing and Entry-Line Duty Isolation (July 8, 2026)
GEODIS: CPSC eFiling Effective as of July 8, 2026 (CBP CAPE warehouse entry update summary)
