Temporary rules published September 30 by Treasury and the IRS say Treasury will open a Trump account on or about October 1, and periodically after that, for each eligible child who has none, "without any action required from parents or guardians." Public Law 119-21 created the accounts.
Automatic accounts
An eligible child has not turned 18 before the end of the calendar year in which the election to open the account is made, and was issued a Social Security number before the election date. The document expects the rules to add more than 60 million children with accounts in 2026.
An "auto account" can take only gifts that governments and charities route through Treasury to a defined group of children, and the $1,000 federal pilot deposit.
To add family or employer money, a guardian or legal custodian with authority over the child's finances, or the child with legal capacity, can "claim" the account through an electronic application. The claimant must prove identity and authority. The balance moves once the receiving account is established; for a Treasury-selected trustee, that means signing the account agreement.
Limits and the pilot deposit
The preamble says contributions during the "growth period," which ends December 31 of the year a child turns 17, are generally capped at $5,000 a year (adjusted for inflation after 2027). Family, friend and employer money counts toward the cap; Treasury-routed gifts and the pilot deposit do not. Withdrawals are generally barred in that period.
Treasury will pay $1,000 to eligible children: U.S. citizens born 2025 through 2028 with a Social Security number, no earlier processed request, and whom the person electing expects to be their qualifying child that year. The document says Treasury cannot make the pilot election itself, and an auto account can receive the $1,000 only if someone has made one for that child.
What employers could contribute
Under section 128 of the tax code, as the August 11 proposal describes it, an employee can exclude from income up to $2,500 a year of employer contributions to a Trump account: the 2026 and 2027 figure, per employee rather than per child. The exclusion covers only contributions under a separate written employer plan, which section 128 calls a "Trump account contribution program."
The dates
- September 30, 2026: temporary rules take effect, apply to tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, and expire September 30, 2029.
- October 15, 10 a.m. ET: hearing on the employer proposal, now telephone-only; requests to attend by phone are due by 5:00 p.m. ET October 12.
- November 30, 2026: comments and hearing requests are due on the companion proposed rules, which withdraw a March 9 proposal. Taxpayers "may not rely" on them. The document encourages electronic comments through the Federal eRulemaking Portal, citing IRS and CC-00226466-26.
Not in the documents
They give no web address or opening date for the claim application, no process for the pilot election, and do not say how families will be told.