Treasury: Trump accounts to automatically register children

The Treasury Department said Trump accounts will begin automatically enrolling millions of children as early as Oct. 1, under temporary regulations released Tuesday.

The change could increase the number of children in Trump accounts by more than 60 million in 2026, according to the guidelines. In the coming years, the regulations could increase registrations by about 2 million accounts per year.

So far, 7 to 8 million American children have been enrolled in Trump accounts, and “we expect to have 70 million within a month because we’re going to do automatic enrollment,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sept. 15 during a hearing by the House Financial Services Committee.

The tax-deferred investment accounts, launched July 4, may include a one-time $1,000 deposit from the Treasury Department for children born between 2025 and 2028. Other funds may also be available to eligible families.

But because opening a Trump account required families to “opt in” by filing IRS Form 4547 with their tax return or through TrumpAccounts.gov, overall participation rates, particularly among low-income families, have been low, research shows.

The Social Security Administration previously announced it would introduce a process to register newborns at the hospital at the same time as families apply for a Social Security number during the birth registration process.

Automatic enrollment “would certainly reach the vast majority of parents and children,” said Madeline Brown, senior policy associate at the Urban Institute, a Washington-based think tank.

However, “assuming that can happen, once families are enrolled, there will still be a lot of work to do to build engagement and awareness,” Brown said.

Currently, “there are so many weird ways to sign up (for Trump accounts),” said Omeed Firouzi, professor of practice and director of the Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law.

Depending on how it’s implemented, automatic enrollment could be “positive for low-income people,” who often face barriers to certain tax breaks and government programs, he said.

Just 5 percent of low- and moderate-income families — those earning up to $80,000 a year — have opened a Trump account, according to a recent report from the nonprofit Commonwealth.

With recent reductions in IRS funding, resources and staffing, “I wonder if they have the capacity to do this effectively,” Firouzi said.

But coordination between the Social Security Administration and the IRS could be made easier if the same executive ran both organizations, he said.

Treasury announced in July that IRS Director General and Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank Bisignano would lead the expansion of the agency’s Trump account.

Tuesday’s automatic enrollment announcement follows a new IRS hire Friday dedicated to the program, an IRS official told CNBC. Joseph Velli, a former Bank of New York and Convergex Group executive, will serve as senior advisor to Bisignano.