Most of the available pool of tariff revenue has been disbursed back to U.S. companies, but American consumers are still looking for their share of the refunds.
As of the end of July, about $100 billion in tariff refunds were sent to the U.S. Department of Treasury to be disbursed to approved importers, according to a Tuesday filing to the U.S. Court of International Trade. The total is about 60% of the $166 billion in revenues collected from import taxes under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which were struck down by the Supreme Court in February.
Some U.S. consumers, however, are getting antsy that they haven’t seen any of that sum reach their own wallets. Last month, New York resident Tyasia Johns filed a class action lawsuit against discount retailer Five Below, claiming it failed to return the tariff refunds it received to customers who actually paid for the levies.
Johns alleged Five Below passed down the cost of the IEEPA tariffs to consumers through increased prices and was able to preserve its profits—seeing a 22.9% year-over-year increase in net sales to $4.76 billion in 2025—through these price increases. According to the lawsuit, Five Below has not confirmed whether it has applied for or received refunds through the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, or if it intends to pass down those refunds to consumers.
The complaint demanded injunctive relief and an award of actual damages to class members, but did not include the prospective size of the class or specific magnitude of damages.
“The money that Defendant’s customers paid as a result of the inflated prices related to the IEEPA tariffs rightfully belongs to Plaintiff and the Class,” the complaint said. “Defendant has not returned the money, nor has it represented that it has any intention of doing so.”
Five Below did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
In May, Sony customers sued the PlayStation maker for similar reasons, alleging in a class action lawsuit that the company saw a “double recovery windfall” by both raising console prices to cover tariff costs, while also collecting refunds from the levies. Last week, Sony reported a 37% year-over-year increase in operating income, primarily as a result of 80 billion yen ($507.7 million) in tariff refunds. Sony did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment on plans to disburse any refunds to customers.
How U.S. companies are using their tariff refunds
Whether consumers would see any of the tariff returns has been contentious since the Supreme Court ruling in February. At the time, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent offered his own prediction for how tariff refunds would play out, saying the rebates would be the “ultimate corporate welfare,” offering relief to U.S. companies, but not consumers.
There’s mixed signs Bessent’s bleak outlook on the refunds could come true. Research has overwhelmingly shown that the bulk of the import taxes have been paid by U.S. importers and consumers. Shoppers have felt the tariffs in price increases, which companies including Abercrombie & Fitch, Walmart, and Nike announced over the last year as a result of the levies.
Some firms, such as Amazon have vowed to return the recouped funds to customers. The e-commerce giant received $600 billion in tariff refunds and CFO Brian Olsavsky said last week it would automatically issue reimbursements to consumers under a “limited set of circumstances.” In May, customers filed a class action lawsuit against Amazon, arguing they were owed refunds over price increases and claiming the company did not seek refunds as a way to “curry favor” with the Trump administration.
“In cases where we did see an increase in costs due to tariffs, we largely absorbed those costs rather than pass them on to customers,” Olsavsky said.
Amazon follows businesses like FedEX and UPS which have likewise made promises to return money collected through tariffs.
Other firms have said the opposite, holding firm that price increases were necessary to protect business margins. Responding to a class action lawsuit filed against it in April, Nintendo said in a motion filed last month it would not pass on tariff refunds to consumers who paid more for the Switch 2 console as a result of the levies because the money they paid for products “represents the purchase price of the goods they wanted and received.”
The post The Trump administration has doled out $100 billion in tariff refunds, but Americans are suing U.S. companies for not seeing a penny of the returns appeared first on Fortune.
