Update (October 8, 2026): This article now gives the comment deadline for the companion proposed regulations: November 30, 2026, per the Federal Register.
Update (October 1, 2026): Treasury announced on Oct 1 that automatic enrollment is complete and every eligible child under 18 with a valid Social Security number now has an account. Per Treasury, a parent or guardian claims it in the official Trump Accounts app, and an eligible child's account must be claimed to receive the $1,000 seed. During the claim, the parent or guardian verifies their identity and relationship to the child, reviews the child's information and accepts the account terms.
Treasury will open a Trump Account (530A) for every eligible child who does not already have one, starting on or about Oct 1, 2026, under temporary regulations Treasury and the IRS published in the Federal Register on Sep 30. The rules call these "auto accounts," and Treasury estimates they will add more than 60 million accounts in 2026 alone.
An auto account is a real account in the child's name – but a limited one. It can hold gifts from governments and charities and the $1,000 federal seed where a parent has asked for it; family or employer money needs a parent or guardian to claim the account first.
Who gets an auto account
Per the regulations, on or about Oct 1 the Secretary of the Treasury will make the election to open an account for each child who has not turned 18 before the end of the calendar year and has a Social Security number, and for whom no one else has already made an election. After that, Treasury will make "subsequent periodic elections" to reach children as they become eligible, expected to be frequent enough to "generally eliminate the need" for families to file one themselves.
Treasury puts the reach of the rules at 73 million children in 44 million families, plus about two million more accounts for each new birth-year cohort.
This reverses what Treasury proposed in March, when it said it generally could not open accounts on its own because of tax-privacy and other legal limits. The new structure gives each child a separate account with its own records, while the money is invested together through a single "master group trust" so the trustee can trade without handling any child's tax information. Our reporting on Secretary Bessent's Sep 8 remarks set out the gap these rules had to close.
What an auto account can hold
Per the regulations, during the growth period – which runs until Dec 31 of the year the child turns 17 – an auto account may accept only two kinds of money:
- qualified general contributions, the gifts a government or 501(c)(3) charity funds for a whole class of children, including gifts of stock
- the $1,000 pilot contribution, but only "if a pilot program election has been made"
That second condition matters for families with a child born 2025-2028. The regulations state that the Secretary "cannot make a pilot program election" for the $1,000, so the seed still depends on an authorized person making that election, the way Form 4547 already provides. Where a family made the pilot election but never finished opening the account, the regulations say the auto account "will be able to receive" the $1,000.
Contributions from parents, grandparents or an employer are not on the list – those need a claimed account.
How claiming works
Per the regulations, a guardian or legal custodian with authority over the child's property or finances – or the child once legally an adult – may claim an auto account through an electronic application or web page Treasury makes available. The identity and authority checks for a claim are "more extensive than what is required by Form 4547," because the existence of the account is itself protected tax information.
Claiming takes two steps. After the claim, the person activates the new account – including signing the account agreement – under the trustee's instructions. Only then does the auto account's full balance move over as a rollover, either into a claimed account with Treasury's chosen trustee or into a Trump Account at another trustee. Our explainer on what activation means covers that step.
If more than one person files a claim, the first person to activate the account becomes its responsible party. A claim can be made even before any money has arrived in the auto account.
Families who started but never finished
It is easy to get confused about this one. Per the regulations, if someone filed an election before Oct 1 but the account was not activated by Sep 30 – for example because the account agreement was never signed – Treasury will open an auto account under that election. Any initial account established after automatic enrollment begins is an auto account, whenever the election was made.
So a family that filed Form 4547 and stopped short of activation will end up with an auto account, and adding family money means claiming it. An account that was opened and activated on or before Sep 30 is not an auto account.
What changes for donor gifts
The regulations also set out how large gifts reach children: a donor can define its recipients as an "approved class" – every account holder born in specified years and living in specified states or areas, at least 5,000 children – under a written agreement with Treasury. A gift counts as made when it lands in the account, "not when the contribution is announced." Donated shares of publicly-traded stock generally must stay in the account for five years or until the end of the growth period, whichever comes first. The regulations do not say how any particular announced gift will be delivered.
Temporary, and open for comment
The rules took effect on publication, apply to tax years beginning on or after Jan 1, 2026, and expire three years after publication. Treasury and the IRS published the same text as proposed regulations, with comments and requests for a public hearing due November 30, 2026, per the Federal Register.
Programs that may add money to a child's account each carry their own conditions – the Match and Bonus Finder at https://trumpaccounts.com/finder takes a child's age, state and ZIP code and shows which ones may apply.