Treasury Department: Automatically enroll children in President Trump’s account

Trump Accounts will begin automatically enrolling millions of children as early as October 1, the U.S. Treasury Department announced Tuesday, under interim regulations published Tuesday.

The changes could increase the number of children enrolled in Trump accounts by more than 60 million in 2026, the guidance said. In the future, this regulation could increase the number of registrations by approximately 2 million accounts per year.

So far, between 7 million and 8 million U.S. children have enrolled in Trump accounts, and “we expect that number to rise to 70 million within a month as we move to automatic enrollment,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said at a Sept. 15 hearing held by the House Financial Services Committee.

The tax-deferred investment account, which opened on July 4, includes a one-time $1,000 deposit from the Treasury Department for children born between 2025 and 2028. Other funds may be available to qualifying families.

But other studies have shown that overall participation rates, especially among low-income households, are low because signing up for a Trump Account requires families to file an IRS Form 4547 with their tax return or “opt in” through TrumpAccounts.gov.

The Social Security Administration previously announced it would introduce a process for families to register newborns with hospitals at the same time they request social security numbers during the birth registration process.

Automatic enrollment “will definitely reach the vast majority of parents and children,” said Madeline Brown, a senior policy associate at the Urban Institute, a Washington-based think tank.

But “assuming that can happen, there’s still a lot of work to do to increase engagement and awareness once families are registered,” Brown said.

Currently, “there are so many weird ways to sign up[for a Trump account],” said Omeed Firouzi, a professor of practice at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law and director of the Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic.

Depending on how it’s enacted, automatic enrollment “could be a boon for low-income people,” who often face barriers to certain tax breaks and government programs, he said.

A recent report from Commonwealth, a national nonprofit organization, found that only 5% of low- and moderate-income households (those with annual incomes of $80,000 or less) have opened a Trump account.

With the IRS recently cutting funding, resources and personnel, “I question whether they have the ability to do this effectively,” Firouzi said.

But coordination between the Social Security Administration and the IRS could help the same leader run both organizations, he said.

The Treasury Department announced in July that IRS Chief Executive and Social Security Administration Administrator Frank Bisignano would lead the agency’s expansion of Trump accounts.

IRS officials told CNBC that Tuesday’s auto-enrollment announcement came on the heels of a new IRS hire dedicated to the program on Friday. Joseph Veri, a former New York Bank and Convergex Group executive, will become a senior advisor to Bisignano.