Written Requests For Refunds Under GSP Must Be Received
By CPB No Later Than April 18, 2012

March 22, 2012

The legal requirement under this retroactive law is that a request must be filed at the port of entry identifying the entry number and date on which the refund should be made. Although CBP has issued instructions to the effect that entries for the January 1 through November 5, 2011 period that were filed via Automated Broker Interface (ABI) with the Special Program Indicator (SPI) “A” would be re-liquidated with refunds, in many instances, such refunds have not been issued. 

The filing of an entry with an SPI “A” designation is a convenience accorded by CBP and does not meet the legal requirements for claiming retroactive GSP refunds. Only a refund claim timely filed by April 18, 2012 satisfies the legal requirements.  Thus, if a SPI “A” was designated by the importer on the entry but no GSP refund was issued, the importer would be precluded from obtaining a refund if it did not file a request claim with the port by April 18, 2012.

ABI Filers Who Filed with the Special Program Indicator “A”

In a recent message (CMSM 12-000088), CBP announced that it has completed the automated refund process for entries made January 1 through November 5, 2011 using the SPI “A,” and it is now working the written requests for refunds, as well as those entry summaries which failed the automated refund process. Importers who made entries using the “A” SPI should carefully review their entries and make sure that all anticipated refunds have been received.

CBP has recommended that if no refunds have been received by March 30, 2012 on which the SPI “A” was used, importers should notify the port in writing and provide the entry number, line numbers eligible for GSP and the expected duty refund. The written request for refund must be received (not post-marked) by CBP no later than April 18, 2012.

Entries Filed Without an SPI “A” Indicator

If the entries were non-ABI entries or the entries (even if ABI entries) were filed without the SPI “A,” the importer must file a request in writing with the port of entry identifying the entry number and date to enable CBP to locate or reconstruct the entry. A post-entry amendment or protest is not required. We would recommend, however, that the written request include a copy of the entry and commercial invoice, and identify the line item that is being claimed for a GSP refund. Again, all such refund requests must be received by CBP no later than April 18, 2012. There is no additional protest period following the date of liquidation.

Identification of Eligible Entries

Importers can obtain information regarding their entries entered with GSP claims from one of the following sources:

• The importer’s customs broker may be able to provide a schedule of the applicable entries on which a SPI “A” was designated.
• The CBP Strategic Trade Center can provide a report which will identify the entries by line item containing the SPI “A” (if designated). Requests for this report should be made as soon as possible as it can take a number of weeks for CBP to provide the CD with this information.
• A CBP ACE report will provide the SPI by line item if the customs broker or importer participates in ACE.
• The CBP National Finance Center will provide a report of the importer’s entries which have been liquidated with the amount of refund.  This report, however, only indicates the entry number, date and refund and does not indicate which entries were filed with an SPI “A”.

If you have any questions about this newsletter, please contact George R. Tuttle at (415) 288-0425 or via email at george.tuttle.sr@tuttlelaw.com.

George Tuttle is an attorney with the Law Offices of George R. Tuttle in San Francisco.

Copyright © 2012 by Tuttle Law Offices. 

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