Refunds on IEEPA Tariffs: 'We Just Did it Unilaterally'

Back in February, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that President Donald Trump's suite of International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) tariffs were unconstitutional.

That decision opened the door to potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in refunds to businesses that had paid those tariffs since they went into effect a year prior, including those who shipped in Thoroughbreds from abroad.

“We just did it unilaterally, figuring our customers would want their money back,” said Charles “Chuck” Santarelli, president of Mersant International, licensed custom brokers and freight forwarders which ships Thoroughbred racehorses worldwide, about his company's approach to applying for the tariff refunds.

“Most of our clients have been contacted that we're doing this,” Santarelli added. “There are some one-offs that we have not contacted yet.”

The refund process is being done through the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) Automated Commercial Environment system, within which is the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) functionality, what the CBP says is designed to “streamline the submission and processing” of valid refund requests.

Santarelli said before applying for the refunds, he went through every single customs entry that Mersant filed from Apr. 9 last year through Feb. 24 this year.

During that time, Mersant filed 202 custom entries. Each entry could contain as many as a dozen or more horses. And each horse, of course, could have multiple paying partners.

Not anyone can access the ACE system, which opened on Apr. 20.

“You have to be registered to utilize the portal,” Santarelli explained.

“What I've done is I've created internal spreadsheets of each portal upload to keep track of who paid us for each particular horse and added a column for the interest accrued so we have an idea of what the clients will get back,” said Santarelli.

“When we file a CAPE portal transaction, we get a claim number assigned to it for us to check the status of the refunds internally in the ACE Portal,” he added.

According to Santarelli, their customers paid around $5 million in IEEPA tariffs. He said he doesn't know exactly how many paying individuals that entailed, but suggested it could have been between 100 and 200 different entities.

The tariffs ranged in severity, from 10% from horses bred in the UK to 15% from horses bred in Japan and Europe.

Immediately following the Supreme Court's decision, President Trump enacted an additional global 10% tariff, similar in effect to the IEEPA tariffs. These are set to expire July 24, 2026. The refunds in the process of being issued do not relate to this new set of 10% tariffs.

It's currently unclear how the funds will be reimbursed–whether it'll be done in chronological order, for example.

“In terms of order, I would assume they will pay out the entries that were liquidated already within the last 80 days. Those ones should be paid out first. And then they will break it out and go in submission order. That's the way I see it,” Santarelli guessed.

The first of the refunds are expected to be issued on or around May 11.

“One thing I will tell you is that until I actually see the funds in our account, I'm always skeptical,” said Santarelli. “But that's just my mentality.”

The tariffs, he said, have impacted Mersant's business, the majority of which comprises the movement of Thoroughbreds. At the 2025 October Tattersalls yearling sale, they shipped back around 30 horses to America.

“The previous year, we had close to 50,” he said. “Maybe they're just not buying 18, they're buying 15. They're just buying fewer.”

The tariffs have also impacted the way Thoroughbreds have been moved post purchase.

Rather than ship them to the U.S. to be broken in, “a lot of people have kept their horses there post sale to break them in England or with Europe,” said Santarelli.

Importantly, anyone interested in possible refunds should reach out to their shipping agent or whoever they used to ship horses, to see if they've applied for the tariff refunds on their behalf, said Santarelli.

Many of racing manager and bloodstock advisor Joe Miller's clients are having their refunds processed by Mersant. For the ones who didn't use the company, Miller is processing the refunds himself.

“It's a huge amount of paperwork that needs to be done,” said Miller, who explained that he's currently working with his clients to decide whether the refund process is worth it. “It's a lot of paperwork and a lot of follow-up and back and forth with them to get the funds back.”

Miller said, “We're always trying to do what's best for our clients,” but some of the potential refunds would be of such a small amount, “the juice might not be worth the squeeze,” he added.

When asked what advice he would give to others pursuing refunds, Miller pointed to an instructive February article by attorney and syndicate manager Bing Bush Jr.

“What I would tell people is speak with your shipping company,” said Miller. “Do the paperwork and be relentless and try to get the money back.”