Help center
Self-help runbooks + FAQs for importers and broker partners. Can’t find what you need? Email support@tariffi.io or open the chat widget at bottom-right.
Screenshots + exact field names for the CBP portal steps that sit between you and your refund.
SME importers · 20–30 minutes (plus email coordination with your 5106 POC)
Get your company an ACE Secure Data Portal account with importer sub-account view — the prerequisite for entering bank info so CBP can pay your refund.
Open guide →SME importers · 10–15 minutes
Enter your U.S. bank routing and account number in ACE so CBP can direct-deposit your refund via ACH EFT — required under Executive Order #14247.
Open guide →Step-by-step walkthroughs for the questions we answer most often.
Your progress is auto-saved and you can pick up where you left off from any device.
Every intake step is auto-saved the moment you complete it. There are two ways back in:
1. Check your email. When you entered your email at step 1, we send a magic-link resume email to that address. Click the link from any device — you'll land on the exact step you left off. Links are valid for 7 days; request a fresh one at /intake/start if it's expired.
2. Re-open the same browser session. We keep a short-lived resume cookie on your device. Returning to /intake/start from the same browser lands you on your last completed step even without the email.
What if I lost the email address I used? We can't merge two different email addresses into one intake session (audit-trail reasons). Start fresh at /intake/start and use the address you want to use going forward. The calculator preview at /importer#calculator is free and doesn't require an email.
Still stuck? Email support@tariffi.io with the approximate date you started and we'll locate your session.
Offers are signed via a secure link in your inbox — check spam if it's missing.
Once your intake is complete and broker-reviewed, you receive an offer email with a one-click signing link. The link opens our signing surface (powered by SpitShake) where you:
Where's my offer email? First check spam/promotions (Gmail sometimes routes signing emails there). Then verify your intake is actually complete at /intake/start — if any step shows as pending, finish it and the broker review re-queues automatically. Offers typically arrive within 24–72 hours of intake completion, faster during business days.
Can I sign on mobile? Yes — SpitShake renders on iOS + Android. If the signature pad won't register, try rotating to landscape or switching browsers (Chrome/Safari both work).
Can I get the offer by PDF instead of e-sign? For enterprise ($5M+ duty paid) we accommodate wet-ink PDF signing — email enterprise@tariffi.io. For standard SME flow, e-sign is the only path (it's what our broker partners accept as legally binding per 19 CFR § 111.36).
Refunds follow CBP's statutory § 1515 window + each entry's 180-day clock. No platform deadline.
Refund timing is governed by federal statute, not by Tariffi — so we can't compress it, but we can give you honest expectations.
Per entry clock (19 CFR § 174.12): each CBP entry has its own 180-day protest window that runs from the liquidation date. Tariffi prepares the CAPE declaration within that window; the broker transmits via ACE.
CBP decision window (19 U.S.C. § 1515): statutorily CBP has up to two years to allow or deny a protest. In practice most Phase 1 IEEPA claims decide faster because CBP is processing them as a queue.
Treasury settlement: after CBP allows, Treasury ACHs the full refund directly into your own bank account (the one on file with CBP in ACE) — typically within 1–3 business days of the allow-decision. Tariffi is never in the money path; once your refund lands, we debit only our authorized contingency fee from your account via Plaid ACH.
Entries requiring CIT filing: if an entry was finally-liquidated more than 180 days ago, the protest window has closed and we file a protective action in the U.S. Court of International Trade instead. CIT cases run on court calendar time — often 6–18 months.
How will I know where my claim is? Status changes trigger milestone emails — check spam if you haven't seen one in a while. Your dashboard at /dashboard shows real-time status regardless of email delivery. If you haven't heard anything in 90 days, email support@tariffi.io — silence usually means we're waiting on CBP, but it's worth confirming.
CBP/Treasury ACHs your refund directly into your own bank account. Tariffi debits only its fee afterward. Usually 1–3 business days after CBP allows.
Your refund goes straight from CBP to you — Tariffi never touches it:
The broker's fee is on us: Tariffi pays the licensed broker partner a flat per-filing filer integration fee out of Tariffi's own funds, contingent on recovery (19 CFR § 111.36(b)). It's never billed to you and never a percentage of your refund.
Total time from CBP allow → money in your account: typically 1–3 business days.
Why direct to you and not through a clearing account? Because CBP deposits to the importer of record, your refund reaches you in one hop with no intermediary holding your money. The compliance footer on every page has the full disclosure; detailed treatment is in the Regulatory Disclosures.
Make sure CBP has your bank info. CBP can only deposit to the ACH account on file in ACE — see Add your bank info for CBP ACH refunds. If your refund hasn't arrived, confirm your ACE banking details are current.
What if the fee debit fails? We retry automatically for 5 business days, then email you to re-authorize. If you changed banks during the claim, update your ACH details in ACE so CBP deposits correctly, and email support@tariffi.io to re-link the fee debit.
Is there a way to track it? Yes — /dashboard shows the payout status once CBP has allowed. If you don't have dashboard access yet (pre-launch cohort), email support@tariffi.io and we send a status snapshot.
Jump to the section that matches your role.
$10K–$500K duty paid. Self-serve intake, 10/15/25% tiered contingency, filed by our licensed broker partner.
Most IEEPA Phase 1 cases resolve faster than CBP's two-year statutory ceiling, though exact timing depends on each entry's 180-day protest clock per 19 CFR § 174.12. CBP's statutory § 1515 protest-decision window allows up to two years, but the agency is processing Phase 1 IEEPA claims as a rolling queue, so many move significantly faster. We email you at every milestone so you're never guessing. Finally-liquidated entries require a protective filing in the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT), which adds court calendar time — often 6 to 18 months.
Tariffi charges a contingency-only fee with zero upfront costs: 10% for unliquidated entries, 15% for recently liquidated entries (within 80 days), and 25% for entries requiring a CIT protective filing (liquidated 180+ days ago). No retainer, no advance fees, no deposits — compliant with 16 CFR § 310.4(a)(2) and disclosed up-front per 16 CFR § 310.3(a)(1). If CBP denies your claim, you owe nothing on the denied portion. The "All-in fee" displayed in our calculator includes every charge you'll ever see from us — there are no hidden costs, no hourly billing, and no surprise line items.
A CBP-licensed customs broker partner files your CAPE declaration under their own license and ABI filer code, per 19 CFR Part 111 — Tariffi never files directly with CBP. Tariffi is a data-preparation software platform and does not perform customs business under 19 U.S.C. § 1641. You sign a Limited Power of Attorney (LPOA) directly with the broker partner, following the partnership structure described in CBP Ruling HQ H326926. This architecture ensures your filing is backed by a licensed professional while Tariffi handles the data prep and workflow automation.
Tariffi charges a tiered 10–25% contingency with no hourly billing and targets 8–12 weeks from filing to Treasury settlement, compared to AmLaw trade practices that bill $1,000–1,200/hour plus 15–40% contingency over 6–18 months. We prepare the CAPE filing data; your licensed customs broker partner transmits it under their own license per 19 CFR Part 111. We don't litigate — for CIT litigation you need a law firm. For recovering IEEPA duties on past entries efficiently and at lower cost, use Tariffi.
If CBP denies your claim, you owe Tariffi nothing on the denied portion — our contingency model means we only get paid when you get paid. If CBP audits post-refund, our licensed broker partner (Filer of Record) responds to any CBP Form 28 (Request for Information) or Form 29 (Notice of Action) within the scope of the Limited Power of Attorney, at no additional charge to you. Full liability-allocation terms are in our Terms of Service.
You need your ES-003 entry-summary CSV from the ACE portal — the universal export that every U.S. customs broker and Importer of Record can produce. This is the only data format Tariffi accepts (a strategic constraint, not a limitation — it keeps the data prep deterministic and audit-ready). Don't have ACE access? Your customs broker can pull the ES-003 for you, and we request it from them after you complete the legal forms. No PDFs, no manual spreadsheets — just the ES-003.
$500K–$5M duty paid. Underwriter-led discovery across multi-broker portfolios.
A named Tariffi underwriter personally owns your portfolio kickoff, performing an eligibility scan across all your Filer Codes and producing a recovery-probability heatmap per entry vintage before any filing goes to broker review. This white-glove approach is designed for importers with multi-broker portfolios where one-size-fits-all self-serve intake would miss cross-broker edge cases. You receive a single consolidated readout with recovery estimates by entry tier, giving you full visibility before authorizing the filing.
Yes — Tariffi's partnership architecture is broker-agnostic, routing each entry's data prep to the licensed broker who already holds the ABI Filer Code for that entry. There is no broker-switch disruption to your existing relationships. If a broker we haven't partnered with yet owns some of your filings, we onboard them on your timeline. Each broker partner maintains their own isolated tenant and only sees filings assigned to their Filer Code.
Yes — Tariffi provides a full diligence pack under NDA that includes broker-partnership regulatory evidence, an accounting memo template, and the complete engagement-letter redline. Request the pack and you'll receive: regulatory evidence for the broker partnership (19 CFR Part 111 + CBP Ruling HQ H326926 + H350722), our FASB ASC 450-30 contingent-recovery memo template for your accounting team, and the full engagement-letter redline for legal review.
$5M+ duty paid. Custom pricing, co-advisory with your counsel, diligence pack under NDA.
Enterprise claims over $5M in duty paid receive custom-priced contingency fees, typically lower than the standard 10/15/25% tiers, with a co-advisory structure that accommodates your existing tax or trade counsel. Pricing is negotiated per engagement based on portfolio size, entry complexity, and co-advisory scope. Email enterprise@tariffi.io to start the pricing conversation — we respond within one business day.
Tariffi enforces AES-256 encryption at rest, TLS 1.2+ in transit, role-scoped database access with full audit logging, and 7-year data retention per 19 CFR Part 163. Under NDA, we share our third-party penetration-test summary and subprocessor attestations. Each broker partner operates in an isolated database tenant with no cross-broker visibility. Additional certifications are disclosed as they land.
Yes — Tariffi's engagement structure is designed to accommodate co-advisory arrangements where your existing Big 4 tax or trade team owns the workpaper review alongside our data-prep platform. The licensed broker partner transmits to CBP under their own license per 19 CFR Part 111, and the engagement letter includes provisions for a side arrangement with your advisor. This preserves your existing advisory relationships while adding Tariffi's automated CAPE data preparation.
You stay Filer of Record on every filing. Flat per-filing filer integration fee per 19 CFR § 111.36(c) — never a percentage.
You do — you remain the Filer of Record on every CAPE declaration, transmitting under your own ABI Filer Code per 19 CFR Part 111, while Tariffi prepares the ES-003-derived data. We never touch CBP servers. CBP Ruling HQ H326926 describes the partnership structure; CBP Ruling HQ H350722 constrains AI classification to 6-digit HS headings only — all 10-digit HTSUS statistical-suffix determinations are always your call as the licensed broker.
Broker partners earn a flat per-filing filer integration fee per 19 CFR § 111.36(b) — never a percentage of the importer's refund, never a referral bounty, and never volume-based. Tariffi pays this fee out of Tariffi's own funds, contingent on recovery — you (the broker) invoice us directly and the importer never sees a broker charge. Percentage-based, bounty, or volume-tiered structures would violate § 111.36(b) ("unlicensed person benefit" prohibition). The flat fee amount is negotiated per-partner based on review volume.
No — the partnership agreement explicitly bars Tariffi from initiating customs-brokerage services with any importer you referred, and commits us to referring inbound inquiries back to you. Your client relationships are protected contractually. Detailed client-relationship and non-solicitation clauses are in the broker partnership terms.
No — each broker partner operates in a fully isolated database tenant and can only see CAPE filings assigned to their own Filer Code. Tenant isolation is enforced at the database layer with role-scoped access and audit logging. There is no cross-broker visibility and no aggregated client lists. Your importer data is invisible to every other broker partner on the platform.
Enter your 3-character ACE Filer Code at [/broker/enter](/broker/enter) — Tariffi validates it against CBP's published broker-of-record registry and provisions your portal tenant automatically. The Filer Code is case-sensitive and must match your ABI certification exactly. If verification fails, double-check the code or email partners@tariffi.io for assistance.
Our support widget (bottom-right) can answer most questions instantly, or email support@tariffi.io. Replies within one business day.