Overview
- The Treasury and IRS began automatic creation of Trump Accounts on Thursday, Oct. 1, saying more than 60 million eligible children now have accounts that parents or guardians can claim.
- The rule is estimated to affect roughly 73 million children across about 44 million families and will add about 2 million accounts per future birth cohort, the agency said.
- Automatically created accounts are limited until a parent, guardian or custodian claims them by verifying identity and legal authority through Treasury’s system.
- The temporary regulations allow large-scale donations and gifts of publicly traded stock that generally must be held five years, and they pool investments through a master group trust while keeping separate records for each child.
- Advocates and analysts say the change targets low take-up under the opt-in model but raise questions about outreach, how families will claim accounts, potential equity gaps for low- and moderate-income households, and how many eligible children will actually receive the $1,000 federal seed payment.