Trump Accounts are no longer coming soon. They're here.
On July 4, 2026, the U.S. Treasury officially launched Trump Accounts nationwide, one year to the day after the law that created them was signed.¹ Accounts are live, contributions are flowing, and the first $1,000 pilot deposits from the government started landing in children's accounts the same day.²
Here's how to open one for your child, step by step, and how the money actually goes in once you do.
What is a Trump Account?
A Trump Account is a new type of tax-advantaged investment account for kids under 18, created under the law signed on July 4, 2025. Think of it as a starter IRA for a child.
The account is owned by the child, but a parent or guardian manages it until the child turns 18. The money grows tax-deferred, and it generally stays put until the year the child turns 18, when the account starts following traditional IRA rules.⁴ It's built for the child's future, not for next year's expenses.
Any child under 18 with a valid Social Security number can have one. And there's no cost to open an account.¹
How to open a Trump Account right now
The fastest route runs through the IRS website. According to the IRS, the whole process takes about 5 to 10 minutes.³
Here's what you'll need before you sit down:
- An IRS online account, which uses ID.me for identity verification
- Your child's Social Security number
- Your child's date of birth and address
And here are the steps:
- Go to the IRS Trump Accounts page at www.irs.gov/trumpaccounts and click "Sign in or create account." That takes you directly to the sign-in for the election form.
- Sign in to your IRS online account, or create one if you don't have one.
- Complete and submit Form 4547, the Trump Account Election form, for your child.
- Check the status of your submitted election through the same website.³
If your child qualifies for the $1,000 pilot contribution, the same form is where you claim it. It's a checkbox. Don't skip it, because the $1,000 is not automatic.⁵
Prefer paper? You can still file Form 4547 with your federal tax return or by mail. The form and its instructions are at www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-4547. And once the account is established, you manage it through the Trump Accounts app or www.trumpaccounts.gov, which also links to the official app in the major app stores.¹
Who can file the form? An authorized individual, which generally means a parent or legal guardian. The election has to be filed by December 31 of the year the child turns 17.⁴
One account per child. You can't open more than one.⁴
Have a newborn? This part is getting easier.
If you're expecting a baby or just had one, there's good news. The Social Security Administration announced it is building Trump Account enrollment right into the hospital paperwork.
You know that form you fill out at the hospital to request your newborn's Social Security number? SSA is working with states to update it so it can also automatically create a Trump Account at the same time. Social Security card mailers for newborns will include Trump Account information going forward too.²
The rollout is just starting, so if your hospital's forms haven't caught up yet, the IRS.gov route above works for any newborn with a Social Security number.
How the funding works
Opening the account is the easy part. Here's where the money can come from.
The government's $1,000. Children who are U.S. citizens born between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2028, qualify for a one-time $1,000 pilot program contribution from the Treasury. There are no family income limits. Deposits started going into accounts on July 4, 2026.² Kids born outside that window can still have an account, just without the seed money.
Your contributions. Families can contribute up to $5,000 per child per year in 2026 and 2027, with inflation adjustments after that. That $5,000 is a combined cap covering contributions from parents, grandparents, other relatives, and friends. Contributions are after-tax dollars, meaning no deduction going in, and the money then grows tax-deferred.⁴
Employer contributions. Employers can put in up to $2,500 per year toward an employee's child through a written employer program, and that amount is generally excluded from the employee's taxable income. One important detail: the employer money counts within the $5,000 annual cap, not on top of it.⁴ At launch, Treasury said more than 50 companies had already committed to offering Trump Account contributions for children of their employees.¹
Money that sits outside the cap. The government's $1,000 seed contribution doesn't count against the $5,000 limit. Neither do contributions from qualifying charitable organizations or state governments.⁴ In other words, the free money doesn't crowd out your own.
How you actually make a contribution. This is where the July launch matters. The Trump Accounts app now lets parents link a bank account, make contributions directly from a phone or tablet, and set up recurring contributions. Account dashboards show balances, contributions, and investment performance, and kids have been able to track their own investments in the app since July 6.¹
A quick word on taxes coming out: once the child turns 18, the account follows traditional IRA rules. Withdrawals are taxed as ordinary income, and early withdrawals can face a penalty on top of that unless an exception applies.⁴ These accounts reward patience.
The bottom line
If your child was born in 2025 or later and qualifies for the $1,000, opening the account is now a 10-minute task with real money on the other side of it. If your child is older, the account is still available, just without the seed deposit.
Either way, a Trump Account is one tool among several. How it fits next to a 529 plan, a custodial account, or the rest of your family's plan is the more interesting question, and that answer is different for every household.
If you'd like to talk through where a Trump Account fits for your kids or grandkids, give our office a call at 920-380-7056 or email us at hello@dreyerwealth.com. We're happy to help you think it through.
Sources
- U.S. Department of the Treasury, "U.S. Treasury Announces the Official Launch of Trump Accounts and Full Scope of the App," July 4, 2026. https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0554
- Social Security Administration, "Social Security Administration to Launch Process to Assist Enrollment in Trump Accounts," July 3, 2026. https://www.ssa.gov/news/en/press/releases/2026-07-03.html
- Internal Revenue Service, "Trump Accounts." https://www.irs.gov/trumpaccounts
- Internal Revenue Service, Instructions for Form 4547 (12/2025). https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i4547
- Internal Revenue Service, IR-2026-42, "4 million children have been signed up for Trump Accounts with 1 million claiming the $1,000 pilot program contribution," March 31, 2026. https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/4-million-children-have-been-signed-up-for-trump-accounts-with-1-million-claiming-the-1000-pilot-program-contribution