Social Security Admin to fast-track Trump Account enrollment for eligible kids

By Morgan Sweeney
The Center Square

The Treasury Department may be doing the heavy lifting when it comes to Trump Accounts, but the Social Security Administration is also working to ensure families can easily enroll their children as soon as possible.

On America’s 250th birthday and one year after President Donald Trump signed his signature tax bill into law – the tax-advantaged investment accounts for children established by the Working Families and Tax Cuts Act – went live. Eligible accounts started receiving the $1,000 one-time federal contributions on Saturday. On Monday, President Donald Trump rang the opening bells of the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ from the Oval Office, signifying the accounts’ first trading day.

In a 2025 analysis, the Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that Trump accounts would cost over $15 billion through 2034, unless Congress extends the program beyond Trump’s second term, as cited by the Economic Policy Innovation Center. The nonprofit Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget projected the accounts would cost even more – $17 billion by 2028 – when the bill was initially signed into law.

With approximately 6 million children enrolled to date, the Social Security Administration is updating guidance to hospitals and working with the states to ensure that an opportunity to enroll their children in a Trump Account will be included in the birth registration paperwork. Otherwise, parents have to fill out IRS Form 4547 or download the Trump Accounts app.

After the updates, Enumeration at Birth forms, which are used to apply for Social Security numbers for newborns, are to include “the automatic creation of a Trump Account.”

“We will empower parents to enroll their newborns through the Enumeration at Birth program to take full advantage of this program from the day a child is born,” said SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano in a statement.

Over 3.6 million children were born in the U.S. in 2025, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Trump Accounts are tax-advantaged savings accounts similar to a traditional individual retirement account, except with rules specific to children – and a $1,000 taxpayer-funded seed contribution for eligible accounts. Parents can enroll all children with a valid Social Security number who are under the age of 18. Children born between 2025-2028, however, are eligible for a one-time $1,000 government contribution.

Of the 6 million current enrollees, about 1.4 million qualify for the $1,000 seed contribution, according to media reports.