7 Common CAPE Filing Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)

Learning from Early Filers

The CAPE portal opened on April 20, 2026. In the first days of operation, customs brokers and trade attorneys reported a range of common errors in early submissions — many of which resulted in CBP rejecting claims or requesting supplemental documentation. This guide summarizes the most frequent mistakes so you can avoid them.

Mistake 1: Incorrect Entry Numbers

The problem: Entry numbers have a specific format (a letter followed by 9 digits, e.g., A12-3456789-3). Importers who reformatted, truncated, or changed the delimiter of entry numbers in their CAPE CSV received immediate rejections.

The fix: Copy entry numbers exactly as they appear on your CBP Form 7501. Do not reformat, add spaces, or change delimiters. If your spreadsheet software strips leading zeros or changes formatting, use “text” column format in Excel/Sheets to preserve the original format.

Mistake 2: Dutiable Value Mismatches

The problem: The dutiable value in the CAPE CSV must match the dutiable value CBP recorded on the original entry — not your invoice value, not your landed cost, and not an estimate. Even small discrepancies trigger manual review or rejection.

The fix: Pull the exact dutiable value from your CBP 7501 (Box 33 on the standard form). Do not use invoice amounts, freight estimates, or customs broker quotes. If you don’t have your 7501s, request them from your customs broker or access them directly in ACE.

Mistake 3: Claiming FTA-Exempt Entries

The problem: Some importers submitted entries for goods that entered under USMCA (for Canadian/Mexican goods) or KORUS FTA (for South Korean goods) and paid $0 in IEEPA duties. These entries have no IEEPA duty to refund, and including them in the CAPE CSV either triggers rejection of those lines or delays the whole submission for review.

The fix: Before including any entry from Canada, Mexico, or South Korea, verify that IEEPA duties were actually assessed on that entry (not $0) by reviewing your 7501. Filter out any entries where the IEEPA duty line shows $0.

Mistake 4: CSV Formatting Errors

The problem: The CAPE CSV template uses specific column names, a comma delimiter, a specific date format (YYYY-MM-DD), and UTF-8 encoding. Common errors include using semicolons as delimiters (common in European Excel installations), non-standard date formats (MM/DD/YYYY instead of YYYY-MM-DD), and including BOM characters in UTF-8 files exported from certain software.

The fix: Use CBP’s official CAPE CSV template, not your own format. Fill in the template’s columns. Export as CSV from Excel using “CSV UTF-8 (comma delimited)” — not “CSV (Macintosh)” or other variants. Open the file in a text editor to verify the delimiter and date format before submitting.

Mistake 5: Submitting Without ACH Banking Registered

The problem: Several early filers submitted CAPE claims before completing the ACH banking setup in ACE. CBP cannot process the refund without banking information on file, and these claims were placed in a pending status that required manual intervention.

The fix: Before submitting your CAPE CSV, log into ACE and confirm that your ACH banking information (ABA routing number and account number) is registered and active under your importer profile. This is a separate step from filing the claim.

Mistake 6: Wrong IOR Number on the Submission

The problem: The importer of record (IOR) number on the CAPE submission must match the IOR number on the original 7501 entries. Submitting under a different EIN — even if it’s the same business under a different legal name or subsidiary — causes entries to be rejected.

The fix: Verify the IOR EIN that appears on your 7501s before filing. If your business has multiple EINs (parent company, subsidiaries, doing-business-as names), file separate CAPE claims under each applicable EIN. Do not aggregate entries from different IOR EINs into a single submission.

Mistake 7: Claiming Section 232 or Section 301 Duties

The problem: Importers of steel, aluminum, or Chinese goods sometimes included Section 232 or Section 301 duty amounts in their CAPE CSV — either because they misidentified the duty type or because their records didn’t clearly separate the IEEPA duty from other duty assessments.

The fix: On CBP Form 7501, different types of duties are assessed under different collection codes. IEEPA duties have their own code. Section 301 duties have theirs. Section 232 duties have theirs. Work with your customs broker to confirm that the amounts you’re claiming in your CAPE CSV correspond specifically to IEEPA collection codes, not other duty types. Only IEEPA duties are refundable through CAPE.

General Quality Control Recommendation

Before submitting, have someone else review your CAPE CSV. A second set of eyes — whether a trusted employee, your customs broker, or a trade attorney — can catch formatting errors, mismatched values, and other issues that are easy to miss when you’ve been staring at the spreadsheet for hours. A rejected submission doesn’t lose your refund, but it does delay it and may complicate resubmission.