Update (September 30, 2026): Treasury and the IRS published temporary regulations on September 30 under which Treasury opens an account for every eligible child who does not have one, starting on or about Oct 1, 2026. The $1,000 seed still requires an election by an authorized person, and money from the family needs a parent or guardian to claim the account first.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the federal government will move to automatic enrollment in Trump Accounts (530A) for everyone eligible, with a formal announcement expected at the end of September or the beginning of October. He said it at a Breitbart News event in Washington on Sep 8, 2026.
At the time of the remarks, nothing in the published rules had changed, and an account existed only when an authorized adult made an election for a specific child.
What has been said so far
The remarks came at the outlet's "State of the Economy" session with the Secretary. Contemporaneous accounts of it agree on two points: automatic enrollment is coming for everyone eligible, and the formal announcement is expected at the end of September or the beginning of October.
At the time, the mechanics were not public. Treasury's press-release feed carried nothing on it through Sep 9, the IRS newsroom carried nothing, and the Secretary's own account had not posted it. The rules published on Sep 30 now supply the start date and the children covered.
How an account opened before the rules
Before the rules, per the IRS, the election was made by an authorized individual on Form 4547 or through the online portal, and under the proposed regulations issued in March 2026 it had to be made on or before Dec 31 of the calendar year in which the child turns 17. From on or about Oct 1, 2026, per the temporary regulations, Treasury makes the election itself for each eligible child without one, and Form 4547 remains the way to request the $1,000 seed. Our complete guide to Form 4547 covers the filing itself.
Who may make the election runs in a set order. Per the instructions for the form, the priority is a legal guardian, then a parent, then an adult sibling, then a grandparent – and where the $1,000 federal seed is requested at the same time, the election belongs to the person who anticipates the child will be their qualifying child for that tax year.
Eligibility for the account is wider than most families assume. Per the IRS, it includes any child who has not turned 18 before the end of the calendar year in which the election is made and who has a valid Social Security number, as we explained in our reporting on older children and eligibility.
Treasury has already described this as the hard part
The March 2026 proposed regulations took up a Secretary-made election directly, and in the negative. Per the preamble published at 91 FR 11194:
Although section 530A contemplates an election to open an initial Trump account made by the Secretary, the Treasury Department and IRS have determined that the Treasury Department would generally be unable to perform necessary actions to open an account (1) without a statutory exception to the disclosure prohibition in section 6103 and (2) due to additional legal constraints (including federal and state banking, securities, and anti-money laundering laws).
The same passage adds that if there were a legal path, "there would still be substantial administrative challenges to consider."
So the statute contemplates the Secretary opening accounts, and Treasury's own published position six months ago was that it could not do so on its own. The September rules answer that gap with a separate account for each child, invested together through a master group trust so the trustee never handles a child's tax information, and they withdraw the March proposal.
An account is not the same as money in it
Two limits sit outside what automatic enrollment changes.
The first is the seed. The $1,000 rests on a separate election under section 6434, and per the instructions for Form 4547 it goes to a child who is a U.S. citizen, born 2025-2028, for whom no prior pilot contribution has been made. An older child may hold an account without any federal deposit in it.
The second is who can add money. Per the regulations, an account Treasury opened that no one has claimed can take only the $1,000 seed and gifts Treasury distributes on a donor's behalf to a whole class of children; a family's own deposits and an employer match need a parent or guardian to claim the account and activate the account the money moves into. Per Invest America's page for the Dell family gift, rewritten after automatic enrollment, families do not need to apply or take any action to receive the $250 and can check whether their child received it beginning October 13 – a change from the activated-accounts limit our reporting on the first $250 contributions reaching accounts covered when the deposits began.
What a family can do now
Under the September 30 regulations, Treasury now opens an account for each eligible child who does not have one, and a family adds its own money by claiming that account. The $1,000 seed still depends on an election by an authorized person, which the regulations say the Secretary cannot make for a family.
Programs that may add money on top of the federal seed each carry their own conditions. The Match and Bonus Finder takes a child's age, state and ZIP code and shows which ones may apply.