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The Treasury Department and the IRS are moving to automatically open Trump accounts for millions of eligible children, a major expansion of the investment program created under President Donald Trump’s tax and spending law.
Temporary regulations issued by the Treasury and the IRS establish a system that allows the Secretary of the Treasury to establish an account for an eligible child without requiring a parent or other authorized person to first make an election. The rules call for the creation of automatic accounts for eligible children who don’t already have a Trump account, with Treasury saying the structure is designed to broaden participation while protecting taxpayer information.
The department estimates the regulation will affect about 73 million children in about 44 million families and will allow more than 60 million additional children to have Trump accounts in 2026.
WHAT ARE THE INVESTMENT OPTIONS FOR TRUMP ACCOUNTS?
Under the new structure, Treasury will establish a separate account for each eligible child it identifies using authorized government information. Assets associated with automatically created accounts will be invested collectively through a master group trust, while separate records will be maintained for each child’s account.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent testifies during a House Committee on Financial Services hearing on Capitol Hill September 15, 2026, in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The distinction between automatic account creation and the government contribution of $1,000 is important. Automatic enrollment alone does not entitle a child to the federal payment.
The $1,000 pilot program applies to eligible children born between 2025 and 2028, but an eligible person must separately make the required election for a child to receive the government contribution.
Parents and guardians will also need to request an automatically created account before they can receive other permitted contributions from sources such as family members or employers. A person seeking to claim an account must authenticate their identity, demonstrate legal authority to act on the child’s behalf, and provide the required information to Treasury.
The $1,000 pilot program applies to eligible children born between 2025 and 2028, but an eligible person must separately make the required election for a child to receive the government contribution. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
Auto-created accounts may receive eligible general contributions, including some contributions funded by governments or nonprofit organizations. Once an account is claimed, it can accept other permitted contributions, including money from a child’s family or an employer.
THE U.S. ECONOMY GROWED AT A FASTER THAN EXPECTED PACE IN THE SECOND QUARTER
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent provided an overview of the expansion at a House Financial Services Committee hearing on September 15, saying between 7 and 8 million families had signed up at this point.
“We anticipate that within a month we will have 70 million because we will move to automatic enrollment,” Bessent told lawmakers.
The Trump accounts were created under the tax law Trump signed in July 2025. The law created a new type of individual retirement account for eligible children and authorized the Treasury Secretary to create or organize the accounts.
Bessent also presented these accounts as part of a broader effort to increase participation in U.S. capital markets. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
GOLDMAN SACHS TO CONTRIBUTE $1,000 TO TRUMP ACCOUNTS FOR ELIGIBLE CHILDREN OF EMPLOYEES
The regulations also address large-scale contributions to Trump accounts by governments and nonprofits and allow certain qualified general contributions to be made with publicly traded stocks.
Treasury said the broader automatic registration system was developed after receiving public feedback saying requiring families to affirmatively register could reduce participation, particularly among non-filers and households unfamiliar with tax procedures.
The agency said the lead group trust structure allows Treasury to establish separate accounts while pooling investments and protecting confidential taxpayer information.
Bessent also presented these accounts as part of a broader effort to increase participation in U.S. capital markets.
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At the September hearing, he called the Trump accounts “the most significant government benefit for young people since the GI Bill” and said the program could help create “a generation of shareholders.”
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