U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced on 5 January 2026 that, under an interim final rule published earlier in the week, all customs duty refunds will be issued exclusively via Automated Clearing House (ACH) beginning 6 February 2026. Paper Treasury checks will be phased out except in narrowly defined hardship cases.
Importers navigating these new electronic refund requirements may benefit from specialized support. VisaHQ, well-known for assisting businesses with U.S. entry and trade-related formalities, can help companies establish the necessary banking presence, complete Form 4811, and coordinate with customs brokers to ensure seamless ACH enrollment. Further details are available at https://www.visahq.com/united-states/.
The rule requires importers to create or update ACE (Automated Commercial Environment) portal accounts and submit U.S. banking details. Foreign companies that do not maintain U.S. bank accounts must either open one or designate a customs broker with domestic banking capability on CBP Form 4811. Failure to set up ACH will delay duty drawback, overpayment returns and other refund types.
![CBP Mandates Electronic Refunds: Importers Must Enroll in ACH by 6 February 2026]()
From a global mobility perspective, corporate relocation teams that handle household-goods shipments should liaise with logistics providers to confirm ACH enrolment, ensuring timely recovery of overpaid duties and taxes. Finance departments should reconcile bank-account ownership to avoid mismatches that can trigger refund rejections.
CBP says electronic refunds will cut processing times from “weeks to days,” reduce fraud risk and save administrative costs—a win for high-volume importers such as automotive and tech multinationals. However, companies must budget IT resources to integrate ACH acknowledgment files into enterprise-resource-planning systems, and brokers should expect a surge of client onboarding requests before the February deadline.
The agency is accepting public comments until 1 April 2026 but has already invoked “good-cause” authority to implement the change on an accelerated schedule, citing statutory mandates in the 2023 One Big Beautiful Bill Act to modernise trade collections.
Importers navigating these new electronic refund requirements may benefit from specialized support. VisaHQ, well-known for assisting businesses with U.S. entry and trade-related formalities, can help companies establish the necessary banking presence, complete Form 4811, and coordinate with customs brokers to ensure seamless ACH enrollment. Further details are available at https://www.visahq.com/united-states/.
The rule requires importers to create or update ACE (Automated Commercial Environment) portal accounts and submit U.S. banking details. Foreign companies that do not maintain U.S. bank accounts must either open one or designate a customs broker with domestic banking capability on CBP Form 4811. Failure to set up ACH will delay duty drawback, overpayment returns and other refund types.
From a global mobility perspective, corporate relocation teams that handle household-goods shipments should liaise with logistics providers to confirm ACH enrolment, ensuring timely recovery of overpaid duties and taxes. Finance departments should reconcile bank-account ownership to avoid mismatches that can trigger refund rejections.
CBP says electronic refunds will cut processing times from “weeks to days,” reduce fraud risk and save administrative costs—a win for high-volume importers such as automotive and tech multinationals. However, companies must budget IT resources to integrate ACH acknowledgment files into enterprise-resource-planning systems, and brokers should expect a surge of client onboarding requests before the February deadline.
The agency is accepting public comments until 1 April 2026 but has already invoked “good-cause” authority to implement the change on an accelerated schedule, citing statutory mandates in the 2023 One Big Beautiful Bill Act to modernise trade collections.
