Initial Recovery Assessment
Estimate recovery potential before committing significant resources
A broader tariff recovery effort can require customs records, supplier data, purchasing history, contracts, customer records, and coordination across several internal teams.
PTR's Initial Recovery Assessment helps determine whether a meaningful recovery opportunity may exist, where the strongest opportunities appear to sit, and which recovery paths warrant further review before your organization commits to a larger program.
Four Core Questions
Start with the questions that determine whether recovery is worth pursuing
Not every tariff-related issue warrants a full recovery program.
The Initial Recovery Assessment gives your organization an early view of the potential opportunity and the information needed to make a practical decision about what comes next.
PTR focuses the review around four questions:
Is the opportunity material?
Estimate where meaningful recovery value may exist and whether it appears significant enough to justify further work.
Where does the opportunity sit?
Identify the suppliers, customs entries, invoices, product categories, contracts, or customer relationships most relevant to the review.
Which recovery paths may apply?
Evaluate whether the facts point toward direct tariff recovery, supplier recovery, downstream customer administration, or a combination of workstreams.
What should happen next?
Determine whether to proceed, narrow the scope, gather targeted information, or conclude the review.
Targeted Records
Focus the review on the records most likely to matter
You do not need to organize every historical transaction before the assessment begins.
PTR targets the records most likely to clarify tariff exposure, potential recovery value, and the appropriate path forward.
Supplier spend and vendor data
Review high-spend suppliers, tariff-sensitive categories, overseas vendors, distributors, Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) arrangements, and significant pricing changes.
Customs and entry records
Review broker relationships, available entry data, Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) records, relevant CAPE information, sample CBP Form 7501s, and duty-payment records.
Purchase orders, invoices, and pricing history
Look for tariff surcharges, duty charges, landed-cost changes, freight adjustments, price increases, credits, rebates, and other transaction-level activity.
Supplier communications
Review pricing notices, correspondence, emails, and other communications that connect cost changes to tariffs, duties, imports, or trade policy.
Contracts and commercial terms
Identify provisions involving tariff pass-throughs, pricing adjustments, rebates, credits, documentation rights, audit rights, and other terms relevant to the recovery review.
The goal
The goal is not to create a document inventory. It is to identify the records that help explain where potential recovery value may sit and what additional information, if any, is needed.
Recovery Paths
Evaluate the opportunity across the relevant recovery paths
Tariff exposure does not always fit neatly into one category.
PTR evaluates the available information across three recovery perspectives to understand how the financial impact may have moved through your business.
Direct Tariff Recovery
Review customs and broker records to identify transactions that may warrant further analysis through the direct recovery path.
Relevant records may include entry summaries, CBP Form 7501s, ACE and CAPE information, broker data, liquidation status, and duty-payment records.
Explore Direct Tariff RecoverySupplier Recovery
Review purchasing and supplier records to identify tariff-related costs that may have been passed through or embedded in supplier pricing.
Relevant records may include vendor spend, purchase orders, invoices, pricing history, DDP arrangements, supplier communications, and commercial terms.
Explore Supplier RecoveryCustomer Protection & Chargeback Administration
Review whether tariff-related costs or recovered value may create downstream customer considerations.
Relevant records may include customer invoices, pricing history, credits, allocations, contracts, and prior communications.
Explore Customer Protection & Chargeback AdministrationOne assessment may identify activity across more than one path. PTR helps separate those workstreams so each can be evaluated on its own facts and supporting records.
Connecting the Records
Turn fragmented records into a clearer recovery picture
The value of the assessment comes from connecting information that may currently sit across different systems, departments, and counterparties.
PTR brings those records together to help your organization:
Estimate potential value
Develop an initial view of where recovery may be financially meaningful.
Prioritize opportunities
Focus attention on the suppliers, transactions, entries, or customer relationships most likely to warrant additional review.
Identify documentation gaps
Determine what information is missing before broader recovery activity begins.
Separate recovery paths
Distinguish direct customs matters, supplier recovery opportunities, downstream administration, and issues requiring additional review.
Clarify stakeholder needs
Identify which internal teams and professional advisors may need to participate if the matter moves forward.
This gives leadership a more focused basis for deciding where additional resources should, and should not, be used.
Assessment Findings
Receive a practical assessment for the next decision
The Initial Recovery Assessment does not end with a collection of raw data.
PTR organizes the findings into a practical recovery assessment that gives your team a clearer view of the opportunity and the next steps.
Assessment Timeline
Move from initial data to a recovery decision in 8 to 12 weeks
The Initial Recovery Assessment typically follows an 8 to 12 week timeline, depending on record availability, stakeholder access, and the complexity of the customs, supplier, and customer data.
Phase 1: Align the scope
Confirm the objectives of the assessment, identify relevant stakeholders, and establish the initial data requirements.
Phase 2: Review targeted records
Collect and evaluate the supplier, customs, purchasing, contract, pricing, and customer records most relevant to the potential opportunity.
Phase 3: Size and organize the opportunity
Estimate potential recovery value, identify priority records and counterparties, separate recovery workstreams, and document information gaps.
Phase 4: Deliver findings and next steps
Present the assessment findings and recommended path forward based on the records reviewed.
The assessment stays targeted by design. Its purpose is to provide enough information to support the next business decision without requiring a full recovery program first.
Your Decision Point
Choose the next step based on what the assessment finds
The Initial Recovery Assessment creates a decision point, not an automatic commitment to a larger engagement.
Depending on the findings, your organization may choose to:
Proceed
Move supported opportunities into direct recovery, supplier recovery, downstream administration, or another appropriate workstream.
Narrow the scope
Focus additional work on specific suppliers, customs entries, transactions, contracts, or other areas where the opportunity appears strongest.
Gather additional information
Address targeted data or documentation gaps before deciding whether broader execution is warranted.
Conclude the review
Document why additional recovery activity is not supported or does not appear commercially worthwhile based on the information reviewed.
PTR can provide the operating capacity to move approved opportunities into execution, while your organization retains control over whether and how to proceed.
Get Started
Find out whether a broader recovery effort is warranted
You do not need complete visibility into your tariff exposure before beginning the assessment.
Start with the records and information already available. PTR can help identify where potential recovery value may exist, what additional information matters, and whether a broader recovery effort deserves further investment.
PTR provides administrative, analytical, technology, recovery-support, and program-administration services. PTR does not provide legal, customs, tax, accounting, procurement, or other professional advice. Recovery opportunities depend on the underlying facts, available records, applicable requirements, and appropriate professional review.