Trump Account auto-enrollment is complete: employer rules
A parent or guardian must claim an automatically enrolled account before employers can contribute; employer contribution regulations are still proposed.
Treasury announced on October 1, 2026 that automatic enrollment in Trump Accounts is complete. Secretary Scott Bessent said over 60 million more eligible children now have an account ready to be claimed, and Treasury said a parent or guardian must claim it before family, friends or employers can contribute.
What is in effect and what is proposed
The automatic enrollment rules are temporary and in effect. Section 128, which provides the federal income tax exclusion for qualifying employer contributions, is law, but the August 11, 2026 employer contribution and nondiscrimination regulations are still proposed.
What do the temporary rules do?
The temporary rules provide for Treasury to automatically establish accounts for eligible children and set the process for claiming and activating those accounts.
Can an employer contribute to an automatic account?
Under the temporary rules, an automatically established account cannot accept employer contributions. Once a guardian or legal custodian claims it, employers can contribute to the activated receiving Trump Account.
Under the proposed rules, an employer could not rely only on an employee’s statement that an account is valid and would need a method reasonably designed to verify it. Contributions could go only to the Trump Account of the employee or the employee’s tax dependent, through December 31 of the year the beneficiary turns 17.
What would the proposed employer rules require?
The August 11, 2026 proposal would require a separate written plan, notices and annual statements to employees, and contributions that do not favor highly compensated employees or their dependents. Programs could not restrict contributions to accounts held by particular trustees.
The 2026 Form W-2 instructions already require employers to report section 128 contributions in box 12 with code TA.
The proposal at a glance
- $2,500 per employee a year excluded from federal income tax in 2026 and 2027, employer contributions and salary reductions combined.
- Social Security, Medicare and FUTA taxes generally still apply.
- Salary reduction can fund a dependent’s account, not the employee’s own.
- A $1,000 pilot match offered on the same terms to all non-excluded employees can be left out of two nondiscrimination tests, not the eligibility test.
Contributions excludable under section 128 are not subject to federal income tax withholding. A separate $5,000 annual contribution limit generally applies to each Trump Account. Section 128 employer contributions count toward that limit, but employers would have no obligation to monitor compliance with it.
Salary reduction would run through a section 125 cafeteria plan, which would need to describe the Trump Account benefit and allow employees to change or revoke elections at least monthly, before the pay becomes available.
The proposed nondiscrimination rules generally put the tax consequence of a testing failure on highly compensated employees (HCEs), not everyone. An average-benefits failure could be corrected by reporting the excess as income and wages to affected HCEs by the Form W-2 deadline and notifying the trustee.
Eligibility would have to be based on objective business criteria, such as job category, salaried or hourly status, or location, not a list of names. Employees who have not yet met the age-21 and one-year-of-service threshold would be excluded from the eligibility and average benefits tests, subject to rules similar to section 410(b)(4). Partners, sole proprietors and 2-percent S corporation shareholders would not count as employees for the exclusion.
If you also match the $1,000 pilot contribution, your other contributions, including salary reductions, would have to pass the contributions and average benefits tests on their own, and the match would count toward the $2,500 limit.
Amounts above the limit or outside the written program would generally be taxable income and wages.
What should employers do now?
If you plan to contribute
For account basics, see how Trump Accounts work; for payroll checks, see our guide to payroll close controls.
Primary sources: Treasury release; temporary regulations; proposed regulations; employer contribution proposal; hearing notice. Last reviewed October 1, 2026.
Questions employers ask
Do employers have to contribute to Trump Accounts?
Can we send money to an account Treasury set up automatically?
Can we rely on the proposed employer rules now?
Planning a Trump Account contribution?
We can help you set up the payroll process, deductions and administration for your program, and coordinate with your advisors on plan requirements and testing.
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