Treasury Says 60 Million Children Have Accounts Ready to Claim

The U.S. Treasury said on Oct. 1, 2026, that it had automatically established Trump Accounts for more than 60 million additional eligible children. The figure, attributed to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, represents accounts ready to be claimed; it does not mean that more than 60 million families have claimed or funded them.

The accounts are for eligible children under 18 with valid Social Security numbers. Treasury’s temporary regulations provide for an account to be created for an eligible person who has not already had an account election made. That means the initial account setup did not require a parent or guardian to enroll each child.

Families must still claim accounts

Automatic creation is only the first step for families who want to manage an account. Treasury says a parent or guardian must claim it to manage the account and allow contributions from family members, friends and employers. Families can claim through the program’s website or app.

A separate one-time Treasury contribution of $1,000 is available only for eligible children born from Jan. 1, 2025, through Dec. 31, 2028. An eligible child’s account must be claimed to receive that contribution. The $1,000 benefit does not apply to every child included in the automatic-account figure.

The distinction matters: an account being established does not, by itself, show that a family has claimed it, added money or received the Treasury contribution. Treasury’s announcement reported how many additional accounts were ready to be claimed, not how many had completed those later steps.

Automatic enrollment is set to continue

The Treasury and Internal Revenue Service temporary regulations were published in the Federal Register on Sept. 30, ahead of the initial automatic-account election on or about Oct. 1. They also provide for subsequent periodic elections to establish accounts for eligible people who do not already have one. Treasury’s description of the initial wave as complete therefore does not mean automatic account creation is permanently over. The regulations do not give a date for the next election.

Before the rules were finalized, public comments described in the regulations urged automatic enrollment in part because families who do not file taxes, or who have limited time, resources or familiarity with the program, could otherwise miss out. The automatic setup is intended to remove the need for families to take the initial enrollment step; the requirement to claim an account to manage it remains.

More than 7 million sign-ups had occurred by late July, Bloomberg Law reported. That earlier figure measures sign-ups, while Treasury’s October announcement counts additional automatically created accounts. They refer to different measures and periods, so they should not be treated as directly comparable enrollment totals.

Benefits attorneys cited by Bloomberg Law raised concerns about whether parents would claim accounts and whether outreach would effectively reach families. The attorneys also raised the possibility that some families might be reluctant to use a government app. Those concerns are not a measure of how many families have claimed accounts; Treasury’s October figure alone does not establish participation after account creation.