If you paid tariffs on an online purchase shipped via UPS, FedEx or DHL, you can visit the shippers’ websites for refund information.
On its refund portal, UPS said it is passing the company’s refund claims on to consumers as it receives money from the federal government. In April, UPS said it expects to receive $5 billion in tariff refunds. The shipper has not indicated that customers must take any action, such as file a claim, to be eligible for reimbursement.
In the first phase, UPS applied for $500 million in refunds and said customers’ refunds should arrive within one to three months after it receives reimbursement from the Treasury.
FedEx has said it is issuing $800 million in refunds to customers billed for the IEEPA duties. “If refunds are issued to FedEx, we will issue refunds to the shippers and consumers who originally bore those charges,” FedEx said in a statement earlier this year.
The delivery giant also has a portal where consumers can track the status of refunds. Consumers who placed an online order with a retailer can enter the shipment’s tracking info on FedEx’s site. FedEx will indicate whether it has received a refund from CBP for the shipment or is still awaiting payment.
FedEx said that if it has received a tariff refund from CBP, its portal will show customers the refund amount (including interest) and when FedEx received the money. Consumers can enter up to 100 shipping tracking or entry numbers at a time.
For example, the image below shows that FedEx has not yet been reimbursed for a tariff on a customer’s shipment, as indicated by the “Refund Not Yet Received from CBP” label.
DHL also said it is issuing refunds to consumers as it receives government refunds. The company has not created a dedicated refund portal.
That process is automatic, according to DHL. Once CBP refunds its eligible claims, DHL will return those funds to the party that originally paid the duties, the company said on its website.
When customers don’t have a claim:
Although some consumers will get back the money they paid due to stepped-up U.S. tariffs, they are likely to recoup only a small share of the roughly $1,000 households paid in additional import duties, according to the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan group focused on tax issues.
Many retailers that imported goods from overseas paid the tariffs but shifted the burden onto consumers by spreading price hikes across a range of products.
Some businesses have pledged to use their tariff refunds to lower prices, but that may not benefit consumers, especially if they’re not repeat customers, experts noted.
“Consumers are very sensitive to the price of the good, and other things that happen years later, they may not see as much,” Eric Johnson, a Columbia Business School professor focused on consumer behavior and marketing, told CBS News. “Getting a refund check is very different from other people not paying increased prices because of tariffs.”
Shoppers who purchased those higher-priced goods agreed to the price without expecting a rebate later. Shoppers shouldn’t expect refunds in such cases, according to Foley & Lardner trade attorney Greg Husisian.
“Because they were told at the time, ‘This is how much the good costs, do you want it or not?’ they don’t have a claim,” he told CBS News.
Other shippers, mostly smaller businesses, mailed imported goods to consumers and left shippers like UPS, FedEx, and DHL to pay the tariff, which they passed on to shoppers. In principle, that allows carriers to refund consumers directly.
