Exclusive | US tariff refunds rush into company accounts ahead of deadline this week: ‘Never thought this day would come’
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A slew of US companies are getting financial windfalls this week as the federal government rushes to disburse billions in tariff refunds before the end of June, sources tell The Post.
On Monday morning, Boca Raton-based Basic Fun – maker of Tonka Trucks, Care Bears and Lite Brite – received a wire transfer for $6.5 million from the Treasury Department. That amounts to about 95% of what the toy company is owed since the Supreme Court ruled this year that President Trump’s tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act are illegal.
“I never thought this day would come,” said Basic Fun’s chief executive, Jay Foreman.
The disbursements accelerated late Friday after a period of weeks when companies complained that the refunds appeared to have stalled, said Sara Albrecht, chief executive of the Liberty Justice Center, which sued the government on behalf of five small businesses and argued its case before the Supreme Court, securing a favorable ruling Feb. 20.
The Liberty Justice Center has heard from dozens of companies over the weekend and today who had received their full refunds, Albrecht said.
“It has been weeks without refund news and today [the] floodgates are open,” Albrecht told The Post.
The high court’s decision — which said that IEEPA did not give the president the authority to impose tariffs on businesses — paves the way for some 330,000 companies to be eligible for refunds on levies they paid for over 53 million shipments worth $166 billion.
The disbursements are coming on the heels of the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) stating on June 9 that it planned to transmit $40 billion into companies’ accounts by the end of June. At that time, the agency, which is responsible for overseeing tariffs, had paid out $23 billion of the $166 billion in IEEPA tariffs that is owed to companies.
There was an audible gasp in the court room when the government said it would disburse another $17 billion in just three weeks, Albrecht said.
The recent push “seems like someone said this weekend that we have to get that money paid out.” Albrecht said, “as if some intern forgot to hit a button.”
Basic Fun had received a $500,000 refund in April when the government set up a portal to process the claims and it is still owed another $400,000, Foreman said.
Other companies who received refunds recently were among those who submitted a claim as soon as the portal was opened, experts said.
The funds arrived during the peak season for the toy industry which is gearing up for the all important holiday season, placing manfucturuing orders overseas – mostly in China where 80% of all toys are made – and securing purchasing orders from retailers.
“Sometimes the little guy, with the courage to stand up for what is right, can prevail against government overreach,” Foreman said.
Basic Fun is a plaintiff in a second lawsuit Albrecht’s group filed against the government in March in the US Court of International Trade over the 10% global tariffs Trump announced after the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Those tariffs are temporary and expire on July 24. The Liberty Justice Center estimates that the companies will have paid out between $35 to $50 billion by then.