Exclusive | US tariff refunds rush into company accounts ahead of deadline this week: Never thought this day would come

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....