Trump Accounts: Early employer interest remains limited
Starting July 2026, employers may voluntarily contribute to Trump Accounts for employees’ dependent children, facilitating access to a new tax-preferred savings option for individuals under age 18. The design is appealing: a combination of employer direct contributions and employee pretax contributions of up to $2,500 a year (indexed for inflation after 2027) can be excluded from an employee’s gross income when made through a compliant program.
Even with the Department of Labor’s June guidance clearing a major fiduciary hurdle for employers by clarifying that Trump accounts and related employer contributions programs generally won’t be subject to ERISA if employers meet certain conditions, broad adoption still looks limited. Mercer’s April 2026 Washington Update webcast poll found that only about 4% of respondents expected to implement Trump Account contributions in 2026 or 2027 and that two-thirds had decided not to make or facilitate contributions to these accounts. The rest were undecided.
Even employers that have pledged to make matching or seed contributions and/or facilitate employee pretax contributions to Trump accounts remain in a holding pattern as they await additional IRS guidance to resolve several operational issues before implementing a Trump account contribution program, including how to verify dependent eligibility, handle nondiscrimination testing and corrections, apply the cafeteria plan election rules, recover mistaken contributions, remit contribution amounts to trustees, and maintain a separate written plan. For more detail on Trump Accounts see our GRIST: What employers need to know about Trump accounts.
