A Trump Account is now available for children under 18 years old and can be used as a tax savings vehicle by parents.  For a child to be eligible, they must be under 18 years old and have a social security number.  It is similar to an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) but for minors. 

The Trump Account website can be found at Trump Accounts - Jumpstarting the American Dream. To set one up, the parents must file a new form, Form 4547, or sign up through the government portal.  The Form is now available for filing with the tax return, but the portal will not be available until mid-2026.  Two children can be added to the form. For more than two a second form would have to be filed. Contributions to the Trump Accounts cannot be made before July 4, 2026, or when the forms and/or portal is up and running.

The activation process is expected to begin in May 2026 and will include identity verification. Until that step is completed, the account is not fully operational.  The account is fully in the child’s name, and the parents/guardians are the sole custodian until they turn 18.

As an added bonus, any child born between 2024 and 2029 will get $1,000 added to the account in a pilot program by the government as one time contribution.  If a parent wants the pilot contribution, they must affirmatively request it by checking the appropriate box. Simply opening the account does not trigger the $1,000 deposit.

There are certain gifts that are also available, for example, by the Dells, of Dell Computers, who pledged to fund Trump Accounts with $6.25 billion.  It would be $250 per account for specific zip codes where the median income is below $150,000.  Neither of these contributions, government and gifts, has a basis in the account and do not impact the total contribution limit for the year.  For all children who have the account, a total of up to $5,000 per year may be contributed to the account by parents or other individual (grandparents, etc.).  Of the $5,000, employers can fund up to $2,500 into the account.

Employers can contribute up to $2,500 per year for the child of an employee or of an employee’s dependent. That counts toward the $5,000 annual cap, but won’t be considered taxable income. Note that some employers such as JP Morgan Chase will be contributing $1,000 to their employees’ Trump accounts. Employers can also let workers direct up to $2,500 of their pre-tax salaries to Trump Accounts. However, contributions, while tax free for the child, are not deductible for the parent or other party, contrary to the rules of IRAs.
Trump Accounts can only be invested in a diversified portfolio of low-cost index funds designed to maximize long-term growth while minimizing risk, such as in certain stock mutual funds or exchange traded funds that track an index of stocks, like Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index.

Distributions cannot be taken out until the child reaches 18 years of age or majority.  If they are taken out, distributions are taxable for the child. Similar to IRAs, distributions before the age of 59 ½ will incur a 10% penalty. As there is no tax deduction for contribution to the account, unlike an IRA, the distributions will be of basis (tax-free) and income (taxable).  A Trump Account may be rolled into an IRA once the child turns 18 or older.  If the beneficiary withdraws the funds at age 18 or older for higher education, the withdrawal and any earnings get treated like income tax. Hardship withdrawals are not permitted, and the account cannot be closed and distributed because personal circumstances have changed.

Source: NY Post 1/28/26, Forbes 1/14/26, Kiplinger Tax Letter 12/18/25