Trump Accounts: How to Set One Up and Fund It

If you have a child or grandchild under 18, there's a new custodial investment account worth understanding, a Trump Account. It was created under the Working Families Tax Cuts, and the IRS and Treasury have spent the first half of 2026 rolling out guidance on how it actually works in practice. Here's what it is, who qualifies, and the actual steps to set one up and fund it.

What is a Trump Account?

A Trump Account is a custodial, tax-advantaged investment account opened on behalf of a child under 18. A parent, guardian, or other authorized individual manages the account until the child turns 18, at which point ownership transfers to the child outright. Contributions are invested in a fund tracking U.S. companies, so the balance moves with the market rather than sitting in cash, it isn't guaranteed and isn't FDIC-insured.

Who qualifies

There are two separate eligibility questions here, and it's worth keeping them straight.

The account itself: any child under 18 with a valid Social Security number can have one opened. There is no citizenship requirement to open the account.

The $1,000 Treasury deposit: this part is narrower. To receive the one-time $1,000 pilot contribution automatically, the child must be a U.S. citizen born between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2028, with a valid SSN, and must be a qualifying child of the person opening the account.

In other words, a family can open an account for a child who doesn't meet the citizenship or birth-year window, they simply won't receive the automatic $1,000.

How to set it up

1. File Form 4547 (Trump Account Election). This can be done inside the official Trump Accounts app or directly at sa.www4.irs.gov/ola/forms/trump_accounts, signing in with the same ID.me credentials used for other IRS online services. The form asks for the responsible party's information, the child's information, and, in Part III, a box to check if the child qualifies for the $1,000 pilot contribution.

2. Wait for confirmation. Once the election is processed, you'll receive an email letting you know it's time to finish activating the account.

3. Finish activation. Download the Trump Accounts app (or use it on the web), enter your information and your child's information, and follow the prompts to complete setup.

One deadline worth flagging: the election has to be made before the calendar year the child turns 18, so this isn't something to put off indefinitely if you have an older teenager.

How to fund it

Once the account is active, funding works like this:

• Parents, family, and friends can contribute up to a combined $5,000 per year, per child.

• Employers can contribute up to $2,500 per year, per employee, which counts toward that same $5,000 annual limit rather than adding to it.

• Non-profit organizations and state or local governments can also contribute, and qualifying contributions from those sources don't count against the annual limit.

In the app, contributions can be made one-time or set up on a recurring schedule (weekly, twice-monthly, monthly, or quarterly), and you can share a contribution link or QR code directly from the app so grandparents or other family members can contribute themselves rather than routing money through the account's primary custodian.

A note for grandparents and relatives: the IRS issued Revenue Procedure 2026-25 in June 2026, creating a safe harbor so that individual contributions to a child's Trump Account generally won't trigger gift-tax reporting requirements, provided certain conditions are met. That removes a real concern that had been giving some families pause about contributing.

What happens at 18

Once the child turns 18, the account becomes theirs outright. They can use the funds for things like qualified education expenses or a first home, with tax treatment similar to a traditional IRA, or simply leave the account to keep growing.

A few things worth keeping in mind

This isn't a savings account in the traditional sense, funds are invested in the market, so the balance can go up or down, and there's no guarantee attached to it. It's also worth remembering that this is a federal program with its own eligibility rules and forms, so if your family's situation is at all unusual (a child born outside the 2025–2028 window, a more complex custodial arrangement, or questions about how contributions interact with your broader estate or gifting plans), it's worth a conversation before you assume how it applies to you.

This article is for general informational purposes and does not constitute tax or investment advice. Every family's situation is different, contact our team to talk through what makes sense for yours.