U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will require all duty, drawback and other customs refunds to be issued electronically after 6 February 2026, according to an interim final rule published this week. The regulation eliminates Treasury paper cheques except in narrow hardship cases and mandates importers to enrol in Automated Clearing House (ACH) refund processing through the ACE Secure Data Portal.
For mobility and corporate logistics teams, the change matters because duty refunds often arise when relocating employees’ household goods, importing tools-of-trade, or correcting tariff classifications. Under today’s system a refund cheque can take 30–90 days to arrive, slowing cost-of-move reconciliations and tying up relocation budgets. Electronic transfers should cut that cycle to mere days, improving cash flow and reducing finance overhead.
If you are unsure how to register for ACH or navigate the ACE Secure Data Portal, VisaHQ can streamline the process. Through its U.S. platform (https://www.visahq.com/united-states/), VisaHQ offers end-to-end assistance with trade-compliance paperwork, ACH enrollment, and other cross-border formalities, giving mobility teams and importers a single point of contact for every document they need.
![CBP to End Paper Refund Cheques and Move to 100 % Electronic Duty Refunds]()
CBP officials say the shift supports the federal government’s electronic-funds-transfer mandate and will improve fraud controls. The timing is also pragmatic: the Supreme Court is expected to rule soon on the legality of President Trump’s sweeping 2025 tariff hikes. If the Court orders massive repayments, CBP could face an unprecedented wave of refund requests and wants the infrastructure in place to process them quickly.
Importers that already receive refunds via ACH need take no action, but others must create or update ACE portal accounts and file an electronic ACH Refund Authorisation. Brokers handling moves for multinational employers should confirm that their power-of-attorney relationships cover the new enrolment steps.
Failure to enrol could delay refunds indefinitely—and, in worst-case scenarios, put compliance status at risk if cheques are lost or mis-delivered. Mobility managers are advised to coordinate with trade-compliance colleagues, verify ACH banking details and update internal SOPs well before the February deadline.
For mobility and corporate logistics teams, the change matters because duty refunds often arise when relocating employees’ household goods, importing tools-of-trade, or correcting tariff classifications. Under today’s system a refund cheque can take 30–90 days to arrive, slowing cost-of-move reconciliations and tying up relocation budgets. Electronic transfers should cut that cycle to mere days, improving cash flow and reducing finance overhead.
If you are unsure how to register for ACH or navigate the ACE Secure Data Portal, VisaHQ can streamline the process. Through its U.S. platform (https://www.visahq.com/united-states/), VisaHQ offers end-to-end assistance with trade-compliance paperwork, ACH enrollment, and other cross-border formalities, giving mobility teams and importers a single point of contact for every document they need.
CBP officials say the shift supports the federal government’s electronic-funds-transfer mandate and will improve fraud controls. The timing is also pragmatic: the Supreme Court is expected to rule soon on the legality of President Trump’s sweeping 2025 tariff hikes. If the Court orders massive repayments, CBP could face an unprecedented wave of refund requests and wants the infrastructure in place to process them quickly.
Importers that already receive refunds via ACH need take no action, but others must create or update ACE portal accounts and file an electronic ACH Refund Authorisation. Brokers handling moves for multinational employers should confirm that their power-of-attorney relationships cover the new enrolment steps.
Failure to enrol could delay refunds indefinitely—and, in worst-case scenarios, put compliance status at risk if cheques are lost or mis-delivered. Mobility managers are advised to coordinate with trade-compliance colleagues, verify ACH banking details and update internal SOPs well before the February deadline.
