Treasury rules auto-enroll every eligible U.S. child in a Trump Account

Treasury regulations issued in late September now open a Sec. 530A Trump Account for every eligible U.S. child, whether or not a parent asked for one. Kitces' analysis of the rules, published Oct. 14, notes that families who had already decided against opening an account now have one in their child's name. The regulations provide no opt-out and no way to close an unwanted account.

Uptake has been modest so far. Treasury Department estimates cited in the analysis put the number of children with an account at roughly 7 million to 8 million, against approximately 70 million U.S. children under 18; Kitces puts take-up at around 10% of eligible children. The analysis points to two incentives behind much of that uptake: the federal government's $1,000 pilot contribution for children born from 2025 through 2028, and qualified general contributions from charitable organizations, including the Dell Foundation's $250 for children under 10 in ZIP codes where median household income is below $150,000.

Our Oct. 12 report put the number of auto-opened accounts at about 60 million. Eligibility in the new rules turns on two things, per the analysis: the child has a Social Security Number and has not reached the year they turn 18. Sec. 530A accounts, created by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, have been available to open and fund since July 4, 2026.

Kitces' analysis says parents and guardians must claim the auto-opened account and verify their identity before they can control it or make additional contributions. Prior coverage of the rollout makes the same point: an auto-opened account has to be claimed before individual or employer money can go in.

Kitces recommends claiming even for families that never intend to fund the account, because an unclaimed account can be improperly claimed by someone else in an identity-theft case, or simply lost with funds the beneficiary might eventually use. What happens to accounts nobody claims depends on the balance. Per the analysis, an unclaimed account holding nothing is closed in the year the beneficiary turns 18; one with funds stays open and rolls into an IRA when it is claimed.

Qualified general contributions from charitable organizations can only land in an account that already exists, so auto-enrollment widened the pool of children able to receive them, Kitces writes. The gifts generally carry age and geographic restrictions, which means an account is necessary but not sufficient, and not every child who has one will receive money.

For advisors, the work is narrow and time-sensitive: inventory client families with children under 18 who have Social Security Numbers, find out whether Treasury has already opened an account, and walk the parents through claiming and identity verification. Our August coverage of the proposed employer-contribution rules adds a second reason to claim, because a claimed account is the precondition for employer money later.