9903.02.80 (Ended): South Korea 15% IEEPA Replacement Rate

Key Points

• Heading 9903.02.80 ended on February 24, 2026, and is no longer in force as of October 2026.
• While it applied, it set a 15.0% flat floor on articles the product of South Korea whose column 1 rate of duty was under 15 percent, from August 7, 2025 through February 23, 2026.
• The heading carried EO 14326 as its legal authority and sat within the IEEPA Replacement Rates program.
• Duties deposited under an IEEPA heading are refundable through CBP's CAPE process in ACE.
• To prepare a claim, an importer needs its entry numbers, the 7501 lines that carried the heading, and each entry's liquidation status.

On this page

1. What 9903.02.80 was and when it ended
2. Affected products and heading text
3. Rate and effective window
4. Entry treatment and neighboring headings
5. Refund path through CAPE
6. What importers should do
7. Key references

Chapter 99 heading 9903.02.80 was an IEEPA Replacement Rates heading that applied a 15 percent floor to articles the product of South Korea. It ended on February 24, 2026, so it no longer applies to new entries as of October 2026. Importers who paid duty under it can pursue a refund through CBP's CAPE process in ACE.

The links in this article go to the primary documents: the proclamations, Federal Register notices, and official tariff schedule pages themselves. Read the source.

What 9903.02.80 was and when it ended

9903.02.80 sat in subchapter III of HTSUS Chapter 99, in the group of headings that implemented the IEEPA Replacement Rates program. Its legal authority was EO 14326, which you can look up through the Federal Register. The heading took effect on August 7, 2025.

The heading ended on February 24, 2026. Its last day of application was February 23, 2026. Nothing in the record we maintain shows it in force after that, and the current HTSUS is the place to confirm the status of any heading you plan to cite.

Affected products and heading text

The heading covered articles the product of South Korea. It was not a blanket heading for every South Korean good. The official text limited it to articles with an ad valorem (or ad valorem equivalent) rate of duty under column 1-General or column 1-Special of less than 15 percent. The provision was set out in subdivision (v)(xxiv)(a) of U.S. note 2 to subchapter III.

The official heading text read:

Except for products described in headings 9903.01.30 through 9903.01.33, 9903.02.78, and 9903.02.81, and except as provided for in headings 9903.01.34, 9903.02.01, articles the product of South Korea, with an ad valorem (or ad valorem equivalent) rate of duty under column 1-General or column 1-Special less than 15 percent, as provided for in subdivision (v)(xxiv)(a) of U.S. note 2 to this subchapter.

Two practical points followed from that wording:

• Country of origin mattered. The heading turned on articles being the product of South Korea.
• The column 1 rate on the underlying chapter 1-97 line mattered. Goods with a column 1 rate of 15 percent or more were outside the described group.

Rate and effective window

The rate was 15.0%, described in our records as a flat floor. It applied from August 7, 2025 through February 23, 2026. The rate did not change during that window, and no other rate or window is attached to this heading.

The facts we hold do not spell out the arithmetic of how the floor combined with each line's ordinary column 1 duty. If you need to reconstruct what was owed on a specific entry, confirm the calculation against the entry summary and the HTSUS note cited above, or ask your broker.

Entry treatment and neighboring headings

How it appeared on an entry

A Chapter 99 heading never replaces the regular tariff line. The 9903.02.80 line was reported alongside the normal chapter 1-97 line for the same goods on the CBP Form 7501 entry summary. That pairing is why the 7501 lines that carried the heading are the starting point for any refund work.

Headings it sat beside

The heading text itself named its carve-outs. It did not apply to products described in 9903.01.30 through 9903.01.33, 9903.02.78, and 9903.02.81, and it was subject to what headings 9903.01.34 and 9903.02.01 provided. Those were exemption and neighboring headings in the same IEEPA structure. For a sense of how one of those exemption headings worked and ended, see our explainer on 9903.01.31, the informational materials exemption. For the wider code landscape, see the 2026 tariff code overview.

Our records do not detail how this heading interacted with duties under other programs. Confirm any stacking question for a particular entry in the HTSUS or with a broker.

Refund path through CAPE

Duties deposited under an IEEPA heading are refundable through CBP's CAPE process in ACE. That covers duties paid under 9903.02.80 while it applied.

To prepare a claim, an importer needs three things:

• Entry numbers for every entry that carried the heading.
• The 7501 lines that carried 9903.02.80.
• Liquidation status for each entry.

The steps are in our IEEPA tariff refund guide. The most common rejections are on the CAPE errors page. CBP's own guidance is on cbp.gov.

What importers should do

• Pull every entry with South Korea origin goods that was filed from August 7, 2025 through February 23, 2026, and flag the 7501 lines that carried 9903.02.80.
• Record each entry's liquidation status next to its entry number before you start a CAPE claim.
• Follow the refund guide for the steps, and check the CAPE errors page before filing to avoid common rejections.
• Stop declaring 9903.02.80 on new entries, and confirm the correct treatment of South Korea goods in the current HTSUS or with your broker.

Key references

• Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States: the official schedule, including Chapter 99 headings and U.S. note 2 to subchapter III.
• Federal Register: the publication where EO 14326, the legal authority for this heading, can be searched.
• U.S. Customs and Border Protection: agency guidance and CSMS messages on IEEPA duties and refunds.
• IEEPA tariff refund guide: the CAPE claim steps.
• CAPE errors: common claim rejections.