Liquidation: What Importers Need to Know for Refund Workflows

In customs practice, liquidation is the final computation or ascertainment of duties on an entry by CBP. For many refund-related issues, it is the event that makes deadline tracking real instead of theoretical.

Teams often focus on ship date or import date, but liquidation is frequently the more important milestone for challenge timing. That is why good intake workflows make liquidation visible on the first spreadsheet pass.

A common failure mode is knowing that overpayment may have happened but not knowing whether the relevant entry has already liquidated or how long ago that happened.