EXPORTER and FREIGHT FORWARDER ALERT!

Harbor Maintenance Tax Recovery News

The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“CAFC”) Opens Door to
FULL RECOVERY OF HARBOR MAINTENANCE TAX!

Are you an
Exporter or
Forwarder? 

 

Interested in recovering all
of your HMT?

 
SEND ME THE DETAILS
1              In its decision in IBM v. United States, January 19, 2000, the CAFC held that, as there was no statute specifically providing for interest on HMT refunds paid respecting exports, that there was no waiver of the government’s general “sovereign immunity” and it could not be required to pay interest.  However, a petition for rehearing has been filed with briefs attacking this conclusion and providing statutory and Constitutional bases for awarding interest and, perhaps, attorney’s fees.  Stay tuned.  We are. 
2              February 29, 2000
3              To explain, in its 1998 decision in U.S. v. U. S. Shoe, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the “payment” of HMT was not a protestable act (as there was no Customs “decision” involved) and, therefore, the plaintiff was not barred from recovery, where it had failed to file 19 USC 1514 protests with Customs.  In Swisher, protests had been filed but they were protests against Customs’ decision refusing to grant HMT refund requests, not against the mere fact of HMT payments.  The CIT, however, held that such protests, too, were barred by the decision in U.S. Shoe and that HMT recovery was limited by the 2-year statute of limitations.