If you're evaluating whether your company can recover IEEPA tariffs paid in 2024 or 2025, the first question isn't how much you paid — it's who CBP thinks paid it. Only the importer of record ("IOR") on a customs entry can file a refund protest. Getting this question right takes about ten minutes. Getting it wrong wastes everyone's time.
Short version: The IOR is the party CBP holds legally responsible for the correct declaration of the goods, payment of duties, and compliance with all U.S. laws applicable to the entry. It's the name in box 23 of CBP Form 7501. If your company's name is there, you're the IOR. If a broker, distributor, 3PL, or marketplace is there instead, you aren't.
Why IOR status matters for refunds
The refund protest mechanism under 19 U.S.C. § 1514 is available only to the IOR (and, in limited circumstances, a surety or designated party). CBP processes refunds to the party that paid the duty — which, in its records, is always the IOR.
If your company bought the same shipment from a distributor who imported it, the duties you paid were embedded in the wholesale price — you paid the distributor, not CBP. You have no claim against CBP because CBP has no record of you. The distributor has the claim.
That's the rule. Now the nuance.
The four common scenarios
1. You're on the entry as IOR
The simplest case. Your company's name and EIN appear on the CBP Form 7501. Your customs broker files under your authority using a POA (power of attorney) you executed. Duties are paid from your ACH account with CBP, or billed to you by the broker and paid from your bank.
Refund eligibility: Yes — you are the party that can file.
2. You buy from a U.S. distributor who imports
You place a PO with a U.S. wholesaler. They import the goods, pay the duties, and invoice you at a domestic price that includes their landed cost plus markup. You never see a CBP Form 7501.
Refund eligibility: No — the distributor is the IOR. Any refund on those duties would flow to them, not to you. (Whether they'd share it with you is a contractual conversation separate from customs law.)
3. You use Amazon's "ship from seller" + IOR of Record service
Amazon and other marketplaces offer IOR services in which Amazon (or an affiliated entity) appears as the IOR on the entry. This is common for sellers who don't want to manage customs clearance themselves.
Refund eligibility: Depends on the specific program and contract. If Amazon is the IOR on the 7501, Amazon has the legal claim. If you were the IOR and Amazon just acted as your forwarder, you have the claim. Pull the 7501 and check box 23 — don't rely on the marketplace's marketing language.
4. You use a 3PL or freight forwarder
3PLs and forwarders generally do not act as IOR — they act as your agent for logistics. The IOR is still you, declared through a broker under your POA.
Refund eligibility: Typically yes — you are the IOR. But confirm by pulling the 7501. Some 3PLs offer IOR-of-record services as an add-on where they do become the IOR; if you took that service, they're the IOR.
The 10-minute verification checklist
Here's exactly how to confirm your IOR status:
- Ask your customs broker for a 7501 summary. If you have multiple brokers (not uncommon for multi-channel importers), ask each one. Most brokers can produce these via email within a business day or two.
- Open any 7501. Look at Box 23 — "Importer of Record Name and Address". The name there is the IOR.
- Compare to Box 24 — "Importer Number." That's the IOR's CBP-assigned number (typically your EIN with a suffix). It should match your company's federal EIN if you're the IOR.
- Spot-check Box 4 — "Entry Date." Refund windows depend on liquidation date (not entry date), but entry date confirms the entry falls within the 2024–2025 period of interest.
- Look for IEEPA duty codes in the duty summary. The duty column identifies the authority cited — you're looking for IEEPA-related codes tied to country-of-origin categories. Your attorney will do this with precision; for an initial check, it's enough to see that IEEPA duties were assessed.
What if my name is on some entries but not others? That's common. Multi-channel businesses often use their own IOR for wholesale shipments and a marketplace IOR for retail. You can file refund protests on the entries where you were the IOR and ignore the ones where you weren't. Your attorney will scope the filing to cover only your entries.
Edge cases worth flagging
| Scenario | Who's the IOR? |
|---|---|
| DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) incoterms from foreign supplier | Supplier's nominated IOR (often a U.S. affiliate or third-party IOR service) |
| DAP/DAT incoterms | You, typically |
| FBA with Amazon Global Logistics IOR program | Amazon's affiliated IOR entity |
| FBA with your own IOR via broker | You |
| Drop-ship from manufacturer direct to U.S. customer | Depends — often the manufacturer or their U.S. affiliate |
| Acquired the importing entity in an M&A transaction | Whoever was IOR at entry (may now be a subsidiary of you) |
The acquisition case is worth a closer look if your company has grown through M&A. If the target company was the IOR on pre-acquisition entries and you now own the entity, you typically inherit the refund claim along with the legal entity. Your counsel will confirm successor-in-interest rights.
If you're not the IOR — do you have any path?
If your distributor, wholesaler, or marketplace was the IOR, you do not have a direct claim on CBP. But you may have:
- A contractual claim against the distributor if your purchase agreement includes pass-through provisions on landed cost adjustments. Rare but not unheard of in long-term wholesale contracts.
- A forward-looking renegotiation. If your supplier is successfully recovering refunds, that's a data point in your next purchasing negotiation — your landed cost assumptions may be changing.
- A referral opportunity. If you know the IOR well (wholesaler relationships often get friendly over time), passing along the refund information may be worth doing on goodwill.
But for CBP purposes, the refund is the IOR's to claim. Period.
Bottom line
Pull one 7501. Look at box 23. If your company's name is there, you're probably a candidate for the refund review. If it's not, the path is closed — but take ten minutes to confirm before ruling yourself out. The cases where an importer assumed they weren't the IOR and turned out to be are surprisingly common.
Next step
Not sure about your IOR status?
The 3-minute eligibility check includes IOR confirmation. If you're unsure, start there — our partner attorneys can review your 7501s as part of the free consultation.
Check My Eligibility →Disclaimer. This post is for general information and does not constitute legal advice. Duty Recovery Partners LLC is a marketing services firm and is not a law firm. Legal analysis and filings are performed by independently licensed customs and international trade attorneys. Attorney advertising; prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.