The Department of the Treasury will automatically create Trump Accounts for up to 60 million eligible children in the U.S. beginning Oct. 1. The change moves most families away from the manual sign-up process that previously required a parent or guardian to act first.
Guidance on the new auto-enrollment was published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, and the temporary regulations take effect Sept. 30. The Treasury Department said the new process will eliminate the need for individuals to create accounts for their children in most cases.
Trump Accounts and the new rules
Trump Accounts are tax-deferred accounts created under Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill tax and spending bill. Under the previous setup, parents or guardians had to open an account by submitting IRS Form 4547 through the Trump Accounts mobile app, which launched on July 4. The government also allowed sign-up during tax filing or through the IRS website.
The Treasury Department said auto-enrollment is expected to add about 2 million more accounts per birth-year cohort. That is the practical effect for families born in the eligible window: more children should enter the program without a parent first finding the form, the app, or the tax-filing path.
Federal Register guidance
The new regulations say the Treasury Department and the IRS identified an administrable structure that permits broad automatic enrollment while protecting return information. Many public commenters supported enrolling eligible children based on personal information obtained from tax returns, the Social Security Administration, and other records.
The earlier regulation was withdrawn because it did not provide for broad automatic enrollment by the Secretary. The Treasury's new rule replaces that limit with a system that is meant to widen participation and let donor contributions reach more children.
Parents and eligible children
Children born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028, are eligible for a $1,000 seed contribution from the government. Families with children born after those dates but under 18 may still open Trump Accounts without receiving the government's $1,000 gift, and friends, relatives, or employers can contribute up to $5,000 per year.
For parents and guardians, the immediate change is simple: in most cases they will no longer need to start the account themselves once auto-enrollment begins on Oct. 1. The open issue is how the Treasury Department will apply the new process across tax-return information and other records as the automatic system gets underway.
