Levi Strauss & Co. received $79 million in refunds of the IEEPA tariffs the Supreme Court struck down, plus $5 million in interest, in its quarter ended August 30, 2026, and said it is putting most of that benefit back into its business. The company has announced no refund for the shoppers who paid its higher prices, and three proposed class actions seeking that money are at an early stage with nothing to claim yet.
Allegations Only · No Settlement Yet
This article reports Levi Strauss & Co.’s own financial disclosures and describes three class action complaints. The complaints’ statements are unproven allegations. Levi Strauss & Co. has not been found liable, there is no certified class, and nothing to claim at this time. This page is informational and is not legal advice.
What Is This About?
Levi Strauss & Co. has its tariff money back. In its October 7, 2026 earnings release for the third quarter ended August 30, 2026, the San Francisco jeans maker reported $79 million in refunds of tariffs collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), recorded as a reduction to cost of goods sold, plus $5 million of interest income on those refunds. “We made the decision to redeploy a majority of our tariff refund benefit back into the business during Q3 and Q4 to support future growth,” Chief Financial Officer Harmit Singh said in the release.The release does not mention any refund, credit or price reduction for customers. That gap is the subject of three proposed class actions, which allege that Levi Strauss raised U.S. prices to cover the tariffs and is now keeping the government refund as well. Levi Strauss has not been found liable, no class has been certified, and there is nothing for shoppers to claim. The cases are covered in detail on OCA’s Levi Strauss tariff refund class action page.
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Where Levi’s Tariff Refund Is Going
The refund showed up directly in Levi Strauss’s profits. According to the earnings release, it added 490 basis points to gross margin in the quarter, of which about 120 basis points were redeployed to support the business, leaving a net benefit of 370 basis points. It added $0.16 to earnings per share, of which about $0.05 was redeployed, for a net benefit of $0.11.The release says the redeployment included “additional promotion and marketing expenditures” and resulted in an additional $25 million of expense in the third quarter, $19 million of it in gross margin and $6 million in selling, general and administrative costs. For the full year, Levi Strauss says it is redeploying approximately $60 million of the refunds, including approximately $35 million in the fourth quarter. With the refund included, the company raised its full-year adjusted earnings guidance to $1.54 to $1.56 per share, from $1.46 to $1.52.
Three months earlier, the company had not decided. On its July 8, 2026 earnings call, Singh said Levi Strauss had paid approximately $80 million in IEEPA tariffs and, asked about the refunds, said: “It’s substantial. We haven’t figured out what to do with it, because that’ll depend on the environment and a whole bunch of things.”
Why the Refund Went to Levi’s, Not Shoppers
On February 20, 2026, the Supreme Court held in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump that IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs. The Court of International Trade then ordered U.S. Customs and Border Protection to refund the duties with interest, and CBP began accepting refund declarations through its CAPE refund portal on April 20, 2026.Those refunds go only to the importer of record, the company that paid the duty when the goods entered the country. Levi Strauss received its refund in that role; its quarterly filings say many of its products are made in countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, Pakistan and Vietnam that were subject to the IEEPA tariffs. A shopper who paid more for a pair of jeans at a Levi’s store or on levi.com has no claim against the government. Across all importers, the refunds have run into the tens of billions of dollars, as OCA reported in its look at where the IEEPA refunds went.
Did Levi’s Raise Prices Because of Tariffs?
That is the central question in the lawsuits, and no court has answered it. Levi Strauss’s executives linked pricing to tariffs in public. On the company’s January 28, 2026 earnings call, Chief Executive Officer Michelle Gass described “thoughtful, targeted pricing actions, as part of our tariff mitigation,” according to the transcript quoted in the most recent complaint. In February 2026, The Wall Street Journal reported that Levi’s Ribcage Straight Ankle women’s jeans had gone up $10 to $108 and its original-fit men’s jeans $5 to $84.50.The plaintiffs read those statements as proof that customers paid the tariffs through higher prices. Levi Strauss has not conceded that, and a company can raise prices for many reasons at once. Whether any tariff cost was passed on to shoppers, and how much, is a question the courts would have to decide.
The Three Lawsuits Seeking the Refund
Iglesias v. Levi Strauss & Co., No. 3:26-cv-06100, was filed June 18, 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Wilson v. Levi Strauss & Co., No. 2:26-cv-01904, followed on August 28, 2026 in the Eastern District of Louisiana. The newest, Brucker v. Levi Strauss & Co., No. 3:26-cv-12214, was filed October 20, 2026 in San Francisco and, according to the docket, was related to another case and reassigned on October 28, 2026.All three propose nationwide classes of Levi buyers during the tariff period and ask for restitution of the tariff-related part of what they paid. Brucker also asks the court to place a constructive trust on Levi Strauss’s IEEPA refunds and interest, to the extent of the amounts passed through to customers, and to bar the company from spending that money before judgment. These are requests, not rulings. The class definitions, legal claims and differences between the cases are laid out on OCA’s Levi Strauss lawsuit page.
How Other Companies Have Handled Tariff Refunds
Companies have split on the question. Amazon told investors it received about $600 million in tariff refunds and would repay some shoppers automatically, a narrow program OCA covered in its report on Amazon’s tariff refunds. The Brucker complaint cites an Associated Press report that shippers and customs brokers including FedEx and UPS, which paid duties as importers of record, have begun passing refunds through to the customers who paid them. Walmart, which reported about $2.9 billion in refunds, faces three proposed class actions seeking repayment for shoppers, and dozens of other brands face similar suits. OCA tracks them on its tariff class actions page.Questions
Did Levi’s get a tariff refund?
Yes. Levi Strauss & Co. reported $79 million in refunds of tariffs collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), plus $5 million of interest income, in its earnings release for the third quarter ended August 30, 2026. The refunds followed the Supreme Court’s February 20, 2026 ruling that IEEPA does not authorize tariffs.
Is Levi’s giving tariff refunds to customers?
Levi Strauss has not announced one. Its October 7, 2026 earnings release describes redeploying a majority of the tariff refund benefit into the business, including promotion and marketing spending, and contains no refund, credit or price reduction for customers.
Can shoppers get Levi’s tariff money back from the government?
No. Under the federal refund process, IEEPA tariff refunds are paid to the importer of record, the company that paid the duties to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, not to shoppers who paid higher retail prices. Consumers have no government claim process for tariff costs built into store prices.
Is there a Levi’s tariff refund class action settlement?
No. Three proposed class actions are pending, two in federal court in San Francisco and one in Louisiana, but no class has been certified and there is no settlement, claim form or deadline. The complaints’ allegations are unproven, and Levi Strauss has not been found liable.
How much did Levi’s pay in IEEPA tariffs?
Levi Strauss estimated it paid approximately $80 million in IEEPA tariffs through the first quarter of its 2026 fiscal year, according to its quarterly report for the period ended May 31, 2026 as quoted in the Brucker complaint.
Sources
• Levi Strauss & Co. third-quarter 2026 earnings release (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1, October 7, 2026)• Levi Strauss second-quarter 2026 earnings call transcript, Investing.com, July 8, 2026
• Class action complaint, Brucker v. Levi Strauss & Co., No. 3:26-cv-12214 (N.D. Cal., filed October 20, 2026), and the court docket
• Class action complaints, Iglesias v. Levi Strauss & Co., No. 3:26-cv-06100 (N.D. Cal., filed June 18, 2026), and Wilson v. Levi Strauss & Co., No. 2:26-cv-01904 (E.D. La., filed August 28, 2026)
• Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, No. 24-1287 (U.S. February 20, 2026)
