The Trump Accounts program just got dramatically bigger.
The Treasury Department announced Thursday that it has automatically enrolled more than 60 million children in Trump Accounts — the tax-advantaged investment accounts created by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — without requiring parents or guardians to complete a sign-up process.
Under temporary IRS regulations issued earlier in the week, Treasury created "auto accounts" for eligible children under 18 with Social Security numbers who did not already have an account, completing the mass enrollment by Thursday.
"Millions of children have already enrolled in Trump Accounts. With automatic enrollment, over 60 million more eligible children now have an account ready to be claimed," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, calling it a "transformative milestone" that could "give every American child the opportunity to build generational wealth and jump-start their financial future."
The expansion is a sharp jump from the roughly 7 million to 8 million voluntary enrollments Bessent reported in mid-September, out of about 73 million eligible children.
But auto-enrollment creates the account — it doesn't deliver the money. Parents or guardians must still claim the account through the Trump Accounts app, verifying their identity and relationship to the child. Only then can relatives, friends, or employers contribute. The $1,000 federal pilot deposit, limited to children born from 2025 through 2028, requires a separate election and is not automatic.
The accounts, formally known as 530A accounts, can only hold low-cost funds tracking broad U.S. equity indexes, with fees capped at 0.1%. Private contributions are capped at $5,000 per child per year.
Automatic enrollment also opens the door to philanthropic contributions. Michael Dell and his wife, Susan, have pledged $6.25 billion to provide $250 contributions for children born between 2016 and 2024 who live in ZIP codes with median incomes of $150,000 or less.