WASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) - The U.S. customs agency

said on Tuesday it was making progress in setting up a

streamlined process for refunding some $166 billion in tariff

collections deemed illegal by the Supreme Court, but that its

new system could take up to 45 days to review and process refund

applications.

In a filing with the U.S. Court of International Trade, U.S.

Customs and Border Protection official Brandon Lord said

development of a new refund claims portal, review, processing

and refund system is now between 60% and 85% complete. He did

not provide a start date for applications, but the agency

previously had indicated a 45-day goal, a deadline that ends in

late April.

In the declaration filing on Tuesday, Lord said the new system

will begin accepting claims in phases, with first priority given

to those customs entries liquidated, or finalized, within the

preceding 80 days and entries whose liquidation status has been

"suspended, extended, or under review."

The initial phase will also accept declarations containing

warehouse and warehouse withdrawal entries, Lord said.

The filing also said some 26,664 importers of record had

completed the process to receive electronic refunds,

representing 78% of entries for which duties or deposits under

the International Emergency Economic Powers Act had been paid,

an amount totaling $120 billion.

The U.S. Supreme Court last month struck down President

Donald Trump's broadest global tariffs under IEEPA, dealing a

blow to the central economic policy of his administration.

More than 330,000 importers paid the IEEPA tariffs on 53

million shipments, according to court documents.

The Supreme Court did not provide guidance on refunding the

tariff payments that had been collected from importers since

February 2025, leaving that matter to the Court of International

Trade in New York City.

Many large importers such as FedEx ( FDX ) sued CBP to protect

their right to a refund, which Trump said could take up to five

years. Many smaller importers feared the cost of the refund

process would outweigh the benefits of trying to get reimbursed.

Judge Richard Eaton of the Court of International Trade

earlier this month ordered CBP to begin processing refunds using

its existing system, but the agency instead proposed a new

process that would be ready to accept refund applications as

soon as next month and would not require importers to sue.