CBP Says if SPI "A" GSP Refunds Not Received by March 31, File Again

Officials at U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently stated that importers who have not received a Generalized System of Preferences SPI “A” refund by March 31, 2012 should assume that the claim “fell through the cracks” and file a written refund request by the April 18, 2012 deadline to ensure those refunds are received.

(GSP expired for beneficiary countries, i.e., other than those listed as African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) GSP beneficiaries, for entries during the January 1 -- November 4, 2011 period. The GSP program renewed on November 5, 2011, retroactive to its January 1 expiration date, and instructions were provided for requesting duty refunds.)

SPI “A” Refunds Began in Dec 2011, All Issued by Mid-Jan Except for Rejects

CBP began processing GSP duty refunds in early December 2011, and had issued refunds for all automatic refund requests (entries that were filed duty-paid via ABI with the SPI "A") by mid-January 2012, except for the ones that "failed" this refund process.

Rejects Were Sent to Ports for Manual Processing by Feb 29

According to CBP sources, about 15,000 automatic GSP Special Program Indicator (SPI) “A” refund requests failed the refund process, as they were flagged for reconciliation, drawback, or another downstream adjustment. CBP forwarded these rejects to the ports where entry was made, giving the ports a target date of February 29, 2012 to manually process the refunds.

Also, Some SPI “A” Refund Requests Corrupted

In addition, the computer data for some of the automatic SPI “A” refund claims was corrupted, and CBP could not discern what entries these claims applied to.

For Entries Not Refunded by Mar 31, Written Refund Requests Should be Filed by April 18

CBP sources said that there may be a two week lag time from the time port processing is completed until the time refund checks are received. In light of the February 29 deadline for SPI “A” manual port processing and that some SPI “A” refund requests were corrupted, anyone not receiving all of their SPI “A” GSP refunds by March 31, 2012, should file a written refund request for the entries not refunded, by the statutory April 18, 2012 deadline.

(CBP has previously stated that for those filed non-ABI, or used the Automated Broker Interface (ABI) but without an SPI "A", requests for retroactive Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) duty refunds are due by April 18, 2012, and there is no protest period after this date.

Requests must contain sufficient information to enable CBP to locate the entry, or to reconstruct the entry if it cannot be located. Any amounts owed will be paid, without interest, not later than 90 days after the date of liquidation or reliquidation.

ACE summaries with No SPI "A" must use PSC. For ACE entry summaries where no SPI "A" was transmitted, retroactive GSP claims must be made via post-summary correction, where applicable, i.e., if the entry meets the time requirements for PSC filing. (CBP has previously stated that PSCs can only be submitted within 270 days of the date that CBP accepted the entry. As the GSP program expired on December 31, 2010, some entries made in early 2011 may be outside the PSC time window.)

All other GSP refund requests. GSP refund requests for all other entry summaries (e.g., warehouse withdrawals, change liquidations, re-liquidations, suspended entry summaries, etc.) where no SPI "A" was transmitted will be processed in accordance with CBP's normal liquidation or re-liquidation procedures. Claims may be made via post-entry amendment (PEA) or protest, as long as they meet the applicable time requirements. Any amounts owed by the U.S. pursuant to the liquidation or reliquidation of an entry will be paid without interest.CBP has also stated that importers should monitor their refunds to ensure the receipt of applicable duties.)

(See ITT’s Online Archives 11102617 for summary of CBP memo on filing GSP entries staring November 5 and making refund requests.

See ITT’s Online Archives 11122232 for summary stating that all of the GSP SPI automatic refunds were issued in mid-January except for those flagged for a downstream adjustment.)