The Trump Accounts programme opens for contributions on July 4, offering a $1,000 federal pilot contribution for eligible US citizen children born from January 1, 2025, through December 31, 2028.

IRS guidance says the accounts are for children who have not turned 18 before the end of the calendar year in which the election is made and who have a valid Social Security number. Parents or guardians can make an election through the IRS process, and the federal pilot contribution applies to eligible children in the specified birth window.

The programme is politically branded, but its policy mechanics are familiar: a tax-linked savings vehicle intended to start investment earlier in life. The public case is that small early contributions can compound over time. The policy question is whether the benefit reaches families who would not otherwise save, or mostly supplements savings by households already able to contribute.

Older children may be able to have accounts opened, but the automatic federal seed contribution is limited to the eligible newborn cohort described by IRS and programme materials. The programme is therefore not a universal $1,000 benefit for every child.

The launch also sits inside the wider America 250 anniversary weekend, making it both a savings-policy rollout and a symbolic domestic-policy announcement by the Trump administration.