Operation Refund Rescue

The government lost at the Supreme Court. Small businesses should not have to sue again to get their money back.

The Liberty Justice Center successfully challenged the tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Now, through Project TERRA (Tariff Equity and Refund Resource for America), we are working to make sure American businesses actually recover the money they were forced to pay.

Operation Refund Rescue is the next step. Under this initiative, the Liberty Justice Center is filing dozens of individual lawsuits in the U.S. Court of International Trade on behalf of qualifying small businesses. These businesses face procedural barriers to recovering their IEEPA tariff payments and otherwise could not afford to file their own cases.

Winning in court was only half the battle.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) built an electronic refund system called CAPE to process tariff refunds. But businesses with certain finally liquidated entries may need an individual court order before those entries can be processed for refunds.

Thousands of importers have already filed their own lawsuits to protect their right to refunds. Many small businesses, though, can’t afford the legal costs of an individual case. For them, final liquidation can be a serious obstacle, and pursuing a refund can become financially impractical even when the money is rightfully theirs.

Access to justice shouldn’t depend on whether you can afford a lawyer.

Operation Refund Rescue removes the legal cost barrier. For each qualifying business, the Liberty Justice Center will:

• File an individual lawsuit in the U.S. Court of International Trade seeking access to the refund process.
• Cover all court filing fees and legal expenses, at no cost to the business.
• Seek the court relief needed so qualifying entries can be processed through CBP’s refund system.
• Help the business understand the legal and administrative steps required to establish its eligibility for refund processing.

Many businesses, one principle.

Each Operation Refund Rescue lawsuit is filed on behalf of a single business and addresses that business’s own tariff entries at no cost to the client. Together, these cases rest on one principle: the government shouldn’t keep money it collected unlawfully just because a small business couldn’t afford to go to court.

Because of the resources required, Operation Refund Rescue is initially limited to 100 cases.

Part of a broader fight.

Through Project TERRA, the Liberty Justice Center is pursuing broader legal solutions to protect the refund rights of importers nationwide. Operation Refund Rescue is an additional, practical step for small businesses that can’t afford to wait for those larger legal questions to be resolved.

The Liberty Justice Center doesn’t charge clients for legal representation. Our work is made possible by donors who believe in defending constitutional rights and protecting Americans from government overreach.

You fought to keep your business running while paying unlawful tariffs. We’re fighting to help you get that money back.

Is your business eligible? If your business paid IEEPA tariffs as the importer of record, has entries that reached final liquidation, and hasn’t filed its own lawsuit, you may qualify. Learn more on our Operation Refund Rescue Page.