PSC vs. Protest vs. CIT Litigation: Choosing Your IEEPA Recovery Path

If you paid IEEPA tariffs between February 4, 2025, and February 24, 2026, the government owes you money. The Supreme Court’s ruling settled that. What it didn’t settle is how you get it back.

There are three government recovery paths: Post-Summary Correction (PSC), formal CBP protest, and Court of International Trade (CIT) litigation. Each one applies to entries in a specific liquidation status. Each one has different deadlines, costs, complexity levels, and timelines. And most importers with a meaningful IEEPA portfolio will need to use more than one.

This guide puts all three paths side by side so you can match the right mechanism to the right entries. If you also want to consider immediate capital through claim assignment as a fourth option, the four recovery paths overview covers that in detail.

The Quick Comparison

Before we dive into the details, here’s the summary table:

Now let’s break each one down.

Path 1: Post-Summary Correction (PSC)

What It Is

A Post-Summary Correction is exactly what it sounds like — a correction to an entry summary that CBP hasn’t finalized yet. Your customs broker submits a modified entry through the ACE portal that removes the IEEPA tariff line items (HTS headings 9903.01 and 9903.02). CBP recalculates duties without the IEEPA surcharge and processes the correction.

Think of it like amending a tax return before the IRS has processed it. The original filing gets replaced, and the corrected version becomes the official record.

Who Qualifies

Only entries that are still unliquidated. An entry is unliquidated when CBP has accepted the entry summary but hasn’t yet finalized the duty assessment. This typically takes about 314 days from the entry date, though the actual liquidation timeline varies.

Since IEEPA tariffs took effect on February 4, 2025, entries filed from roughly mid-2025 onward may still be unliquidated as of early 2026. Entries from February through May 2025 have likely already liquidated. The only way to know for sure is to check your liquidation status in the ACE portal — our guide to checking liquidation status in ACE walks you through the process.

Deadline

There’s no fixed calendar deadline for PSC. The window is open as long as the entry remains unliquidated. But here’s the catch — once an entry liquidates, the PSC option disappears instantly and permanently. You can’t file a PSC on a liquidated entry. You’d need to switch to the protest path.

This means the effective deadline is your entry’s liquidation date, which you may not know in advance. Entries can liquidate without notice. Monitoring your liquidation status regularly is essential.

Process and Timeline

Your customs broker files the PSC through ACE. The correction identifies the specific entries, removes the IEEPA duty codes, and requests recalculation. CBP processes the correction and adjusts the duty assessment.

Estimated timeline: Days to weeks. This is by far the fastest government path. There’s no queue system, no administrative review process, and no waiting for CAPE. The correction is processed as part of normal entry processing.

Advantages

• Speed. Fastest of all three government paths.
• Simplicity. No legal counsel required. Your existing customs broker handles everything.
• Cost. Broker fees only — no attorney fees, no court costs.
• No CAPE dependency. PSC processing doesn’t require waiting for the CAPE system to launch.

Limitations

• Only for unliquidated entries. Once an entry liquidates, this path closes.
• No statutory interest. Since the entry was corrected before liquidation, there’s no finalized overpayment to accrue interest on.
• Monitoring required. You need to track liquidation dates to file before the window closes.

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Path 2: Formal CBP Protest

What It Is

A formal challenge under 19 U.S.C. Section 1514 to the liquidation of an import entry. You’re telling CBP: “You finalized this entry with IEEPA duties that the Supreme Court has ruled unconstitutional. Reliquidate it without those duties and refund the difference.”

The protest is filed through the ACE portal and becomes part of CBP’s administrative review process. Once filed, the entry remains “not final” — which is critical because the CIT’s March 4 order directed CBP to reliquidate entries where liquidation is not yet final.

Who Qualifies

Entries that have been liquidated but are still within the 180-day protest window. The 180 days runs from the date of liquidation for each specific entry — not from any single universal date. Your earliest entries may be approaching their deadline while your most recent entries still have months to go.

This is the path that applies to the largest volume of IEEPA entries right now. Most entries from February through September 2025 have likely liquidated, and many are still within their 180-day windows. See our deep dive on the 180-day protest window for a complete breakdown of the timeline mechanics.

Deadline

180 days from the liquidation date of each individual entry. This is a hard, statutory deadline with no extensions, no exceptions, and no grace period. Miss it by one day and the entry becomes finally liquidated.

The earliest IEEPA entries (filed around February 4, 2025) likely liquidated around December 2025. Their 180-day windows will expire approximately June 2026. Every week that passes, more entries cross this threshold.

To calculate your specific deadlines, you need the liquidation date for each affected entry from your ACE ES-003 report. Add 180 days. That’s your deadline for that entry.

Process and Timeline

Your customs broker or trade attorney files the protest in ACE. The protest identifies the specific entries, cites the Supreme Court ruling as the legal basis, and requests reliquidation without IEEPA duties.

Once filed, CBP has up to two years to decide. However, you can request accelerated disposition under 19 U.S.C. Section 1515(b). If CBP doesn’t respond within 30 days of that request, the protest is deemed denied — which actually opens the door to CIT litigation if you want to escalate.

Estimated timeline: 18-36 months for standard processing through CAPE. Could be faster with accelerated disposition, but that typically leads to CIT escalation.

Advantages

• Preserves your rights. A protested entry stays “not final” and remains covered by the CIT’s universal refund order.
• Statutory interest. Upon reliquidation, you receive interest on the overpayment under 19 U.S.C. Section 1505(c).
• Can be filed protectively. Even if you’re pursuing immediate capital or other paths, filing a protest preserves your fallback position.
• Scalable. Your broker can file protests on hundreds or thousands of entries.

Limitations

• 180-day hard deadline. No extensions.
• Slow processing. CBP’s standard protest timeline is 18-36 months.
• Administrative burden. Filing and monitoring protests across a large portfolio requires ongoing attention.
• CAPE dependency. Protest-based refunds will flow through the CAPE system, which hasn’t launched yet.

Path 3: CIT Litigation

What It Is

A legal action filed in the U.S. Court of International Trade — the federal court with exclusive jurisdiction over customs disputes. This is the judicial path, as opposed to the administrative paths (PSC and protest) that run through CBP.

CIT litigation is filed under 28 U.S.C. Section 1581(i), which gives the court jurisdiction over challenges to customs decisions that aren’t covered by other specific provisions. You’re asking the court to order CBP to refund your IEEPA duties.

Who Qualifies

Entries that are finally liquidated — meaning the 180-day protest window has expired without a protest being filed. This is the last-resort path for entries that have fallen through the administrative process.

It’s also available as an escalation path for protested entries. If you file a protest, request accelerated disposition, and CBP either denies the protest or fails to respond within 30 days, you can file a CIT action to force the issue.

Deadline

Two years from the date of the contested government action under 28 U.S.C. Section 2636(i). For IEEPA entries, the contested action is typically the liquidation date or the denial of a protest.

This gives you more time than the 180-day protest window, but CIT litigation is significantly more complex and expensive.

Process and Timeline

You’ll need a trade attorney admitted to the CIT bar. The attorney files a summons and complaint with the court, CBP responds, and the case proceeds through judicial review. Given the volume of IEEPA cases and the clear precedent from the Supreme Court ruling, many CIT cases may be resolved relatively efficiently — but the court’s calendar is the bottleneck.

If you need a trade attorney referral, the partner network includes vetted CIT practitioners.

Estimated timeline: 12-24 months or longer, depending on court scheduling and case complexity. Some cases may move faster given the Supreme Court’s clear ruling.

Advantages

• Last resort. The only path for finally liquidated entries outside the protest window.
• Judicial authority. Court orders carry more weight than administrative decisions.
• Statutory interest. If the court awards judgment, interest is included.
• Escalation path. Available after protest denial for entries that were protested but not resolved.

Limitations

• Cost. Attorney fees and court filing costs. CIT litigation isn’t cheap.
• Complexity. Requires specialized legal counsel. This isn’t something your customs broker can handle.
• Timeline uncertainty. Court schedules are unpredictable, especially with unprecedented IEEPA case volume.
• No guarantee of timing. Even with clear law on your side, the court process takes time.

For more detail on what CIT litigation involves, see our CIT litigation guide.

Decision Tree: Which Path Do You Need?

Here’s how to determine which path applies to each of your entries:

Step 1: Check liquidation status. Pull your ES-003 report from ACE. For each IEEPA-affected entry, identify whether it’s unliquidated, liquidated, or finally liquidated.

Step 2: Apply the right path.

• Unliquidated? → PSC. File immediately through your customs broker.
• Liquidated, within 180 days? → Protest. File before the deadline.
• Finally liquidated (180-day window expired)? → CIT litigation. Consult trade counsel.

Step 3: Consider hybrid strategies.

Most importers have entries in multiple statuses. A portfolio with 500 entries might break down like this:

Each group gets the appropriate recovery mechanism. The CFO guide to IEEPA tariff recovery explains how to model the financial outcome of each path and optimize your overall recovery strategy.

When You Need Multiple Paths Simultaneously

Here’s what most guides won’t tell you: the three government paths aren’t just alternatives. For many importers, they’re concurrent workstreams.

Your entries don’t all have the same status. New entries are liquidating every week, which means the composition of your portfolio is constantly shifting. An entry that was eligible for PSC last month may have liquidated and now requires a protest. An entry you protested six months ago may be approaching the point where CIT escalation makes sense.

This is why ongoing monitoring matters. It’s also why an entry-level Impact Assessment is the essential first step — you can’t apply the right path if you don’t know each entry’s current status.

The Protective Filing Strategy

Smart importers file protectively across multiple paths. Here’s what that looks like:

1. File PSCs immediately on all unliquidated entries.
2. Monitor remaining entries for liquidation dates.
3. File protests within days of liquidation — don’t wait for the 180-day deadline to approach.
4. Request accelerated disposition on protests if CBP hasn’t acted within a reasonable timeframe.
5. Engage CIT counsel for any entries where the protest window has expired or where accelerated disposition leads to deemed denial.

This layered approach ensures no entry falls through the cracks. It also preserves your options — including the option to sell claims for immediate capital at any point in the process.

Cost Comparison: What Each Path Actually Costs

Beyond the timeline differences, the three government paths have very different cost profiles. Here’s what you should budget for:

PSC Costs

• Customs broker fees: $50-$200 per entry for PSC filing, or a flat fee for bulk filings. Some brokers include PSC filing as part of their standard service if you’re already paying for ongoing customs support.
• Legal fees: None required. PSC is an administrative process handled entirely by your broker.
• Internal time: Minimal. Your broker does the work. You may need to provide authorization and review the corrected entries.
• Total cost for 100 PSC entries: Approximately $5,000-$20,000 in broker fees.

Protest Costs

• Customs broker fees: $200-$500 per entry for protest filing, or discounted rates for bulk filings. Some brokers offer flat-rate packages for large IEEPA protest portfolios.
• Trade attorney fees (optional but recommended for large portfolios): $5,000-$25,000 for portfolio-level protest strategy and filing oversight.
• Internal time: Moderate. You’ll need to coordinate data gathering, review filings, and monitor protest status over 18-36 months.
• Total cost for 200 protest entries: Approximately $40,000-$125,000 depending on broker and attorney involvement.

CIT Litigation Costs

• Trade attorney fees: $15,000-$50,000+ depending on case complexity and portfolio size. CIT cases require attorneys admitted to the CIT bar — a specialized practice area with corresponding billing rates.
• Court filing fees: $200 per case (CIT filing fee under 28 U.S.C. Section 2633).
• Expert witness fees (if needed): $5,000-$20,000 for customs valuation or trade policy experts.
• Internal time: Significant. Litigation requires ongoing coordination with counsel, document production, and potential testimony.
• Total cost for 50 CIT entries (consolidated): Approximately $20,000-$75,000 in legal and court costs.

The cost differential between protest and CIT underscores why filing protests within the 180-day window is so important. Missing the protest deadline doesn’t just change your timeline — it dramatically increases your costs.

The Fourth Option: Skip the Government Entirely

All three government paths share a common drawback: they take time. PSC is the fastest at days to weeks, but protests and CIT litigation can stretch to years.

If you’d rather have cash now, claim assignment through institutional buyers provides non-recourse payment within 14-21 business days. You sell your validated claim, receive immediate capital at a discount, and the buyer assumes all government processing risk.

Many importers use a hybrid approach — filing government claims on clean, straightforward entries while assigning complex or high-value claims for immediate capital. The government filing vs. immediate capital analysis provides the detailed decision framework.

What to Do Right Now

If you haven’t checked your entry statuses yet, that’s the first step. You need to know which entries are unliquidated, which are liquidated within the protest window, and which are finally liquidated. Without this information, you’re flying blind.

If you have entries approaching their 180-day deadline, those are your highest priority. File protests now. Don’t wait. Every day you delay, you risk losing entries to final liquidation.

If you’re not sure where to start, an Impact Assessment does the work for you. We pull your entry data, map every liquidation status, calculate deadlines, and recommend the right recovery path for each entry.