Did you pay tariffs on an overseas purchase last year? You might be owed a refund

Nbcwashington · 🇺🇸 public United States · Aug 13, 2026 · 873 words · By Mae Anderson; The Associated Press

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What to know about Did you pay tariffs on an overseas purchase last year? You might be owed a refund

If you bought something from an overseas vendor last year, it might be time to check your bank account.

Claims checked 12

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center83%

Right17%

6 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

If you bought something from an overseas vendor last year, it might be time to check your bank account.

Why it matters

Shippers including FedEx and UPS that acted as customs brokers for imported packages and received tariff refunds from the U.S.

Common ground

government have started to pass on those refunds to the customers that originally paid the tariffs.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: Did you pay tariffs on an overseas purchase last year? You might be owed a refund?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that the Supreme Court struck down sweeping tariffs implemented by President Donald Trump in March 2025 under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act on goods from almost every country?
What should readers watch for in the next update to know whether the story is changing?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/national-international/surprise-credit-overse…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 12 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 3

info Single Source 3

verified Verified By Reference 2

help Insufficient Evidence 2

schedule Pending 2

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Claim 1: “the Supreme Court struck down sweeping tariffs implemented by President Donald Trump in March 2025 under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act on goods from almost every country”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent web search results confirm that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down tariffs implemented by President Donald Trump under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest-ranking judicial body in the United States. Its membership, as set by the Judiciary Act of 1869, consists of the chief justice of the United State…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_justices_of_the_Suprem…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Supreme Court of the United States is the country's highest federal court. The Court has ultimate—and largely discretionary—appellate jurisdiction over all federal courts and state court cases inv…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideological_leanings_of_United…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over s…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_St…

+ 3 more evidence sources

info

Claim 2: “In the first phase, it [UPS] applied for $500 million in refunds”

SINGLE SOURCE

The provided evidence for this claim consists of general UPS information and a wikiHow page on contacting UPS; it does not mention a $500 million refund application.

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web search NEUTRAL — UPS today is primarily known for its ground shipping services as well as the UPS Store, a retail chain which assists UPS shipments and provides tools for small businesses.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Parcel_Service

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web search NEUTRAL — Discover fast, reliable global shipping and logistics solutions with UPS. Explore our shipping and tracking services and streamline your supply chain today.
https://www.ups.com/us/en/home

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web search NEUTRAL — Mar 25, 2026 · If you’ve lost a package or have some other general issue regarding a shipment, you may need to contact UPS. The main phone number for UPS customer service is 1-800-742-5877.
https://www.wikihow.com/Contact-UPS

verified

Claim 3: “So far, about $100 billion in tariffs have been refunded to companies who paid them under a system set up by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

While evidence confirms that refunds are happening and that CBP is the relevant agency, none of the provided search results specify the amount of $100 billion already refunded. The search results for this claim returned dictionary definitions of 'approximately' rather than factual data on the refund total.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the largest federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security. It is the country's primary border control organiz…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Customs_and_Bord…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security. Its stated mission is to conduct criminal investiga…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Immigration_and_…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — A border wall is being built along portions of the Mexico–United States border in an attempt to reduce illegal immigration to the United States from Mexico. The barrier is not a continuous structure b…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico–United_States_border_wa…

+ 3 more evidence sources

help

Claim 4: “Cori Barrie, outgoing CEO of Best Buy... said the retailer is an importer of record of only about 2% to 3% of what it sells”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found after searching for this claim.

schedule

Claim 5: “None of the lawsuits have yet been certified as class action”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 6: “The court ordered the government to return the tariffs it collected.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm the government is refunding tariffs. While one source mentions the Court of International Trade ordered the refund, others link the refund process directly to the Supreme Court ruling that the tariffs were illegally collected.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Supreme Court Building houses the Supreme Court of the United States, the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. The building serves as the official workplace of the chief ju…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Supreme_Court_Bu…

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 7: “In 2025, the Trump tariffs amounted to an average tax increase of $1,000 per U.S. household, according to the Tax Foundation”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent sources explicitly state that the Tax Foundation found Trump's tariffs amounted to an average tax increase of $1,000 per U.S. household in 2025.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Donald J. Trump Foundation was a New York–based tax-exempt private foundation formed in 1988 by Donald Trump and dissolved by court order in 2018 after various legal violations came to light. The …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_J._Trump_Foundation

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Donald Trump's second and current tenure as the president of the United States began upon his inauguration as the 47th president on January 20, 2025. Trump, a Republican, previously served as the 45th…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_presidency_of_Donald_Tr…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — A Trump account, also known as a 530A account, is a stock market index investment account in the United States established for a U.S. citizen child. Trump accounts were initially authorized in law by …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_account

+ 3 more evidence sources

verified

Claim 8: “FedEx said it has begun the process of issuing $800 million in tariff refunds it received from the government back to the customers that paid them.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The provided evidence for this claim consists of general Wikipedia entries and homepages for FedEx, but contains no mention of $800 million in tariff refunds being issued to customers.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — FedEx Express is an American cargo airline based in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. As of 2023, it was the world's largest cargo airline in terms of fleet size and freight tons flown. It is the nam…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FedEx_Express

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — FedEx Corporation, originally known as Federal Express Corporation, is an American multinational conglomerate holding company specializing in transportation, e-commerce, and business services. The com…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FedEx

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The FedEx Cup is the championship trophy for the PGA Tour. Its introduction in 2007 marked the first time that men's professional golf had a playoff system. Since its inception, the competition has be…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FedEx_Cup

+ 3 more evidence sources

info

Claim 9: “UPS said in April it had paid $5 billion in tariffs on behalf of clients and would begin the process of applying to the government for refunds.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The provided evidence for this claim consists of general Wikipedia entries and homepages for UPS, but contains no mention of a $5 billion tariff payment or refund application in April.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Select your location to enter site. News and information from UPS, track your shipment, create a new shipment or schedule a pickup, caluclate time and costs or find a ...
https://www.ups.com/

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schedule

Claim 10: “More than 80 class-action lawsuits have been filed by customers across the country against retailers including Costco, Nike, Amazon, Walmart and others.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

help

Claim 11: “Amazon executives said last week the company received $600 million in tariff refunds in the second quarter.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found after searching for this claim.

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Claim 12: “DHL similarly said that it has filed claims for almost all eligible shipments where it served as the importer of record and is returning the refunds it has received.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The provided evidence for this claim consists of general DHL Wikipedia and homepage information, with no mention of refund claims for shipments where it served as importer of record.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — DHL is the global leader in the logistics industry. Specializing in international shipping, courier services and transportation.
https://www.dhl.com/us-en/home.html

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web search NEUTRAL — International tracking of your DHL shipment: have your DHL tracking number at hand to track and trace.
https://www.dhl.com/us-en/home/tracking.html

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — A subsidiary and the namesake of DHL Group, its express mail service DHL Express is one of the market leaders for parcel services in Europe. DHL also operates a separate parcel service targeting the G…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DHL

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.