These companies plan to contribute to ‘Trump Accounts’ on behalf of their workers

The US Treasury recently held an event to celebrate the forthcoming launch of “Trump Accounts,” which are slated to roll out on July 5.

A provision in the Republican tax and spending bill that was enacted last year calls on the Treasury to give savings accounts to every US baby born between Jan. 1, 2025 and Dec. 31, 2028, seeded with $1,000 from the federal government.

While the Treasury-run pilot program will automatically open up Trump Accounts for babies born during Trump’s second term, parents can open an account on behalf of any child under the age of 18. Parents and employers can contribute up to $5,000 a year to these accounts, $2,500 of which is not taxed. Once Trump account holders turn 18, the savings vehicle will take the form of an individual retirement account.

A number of large employers have already committed to making Trump account contributions on behalf of their workers’ children, though the Treasury is still ironing out regulatory details about the plans.

Dell, JPMorgan to make Trump account contributions. At a Jan. 28 event, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent cited nearly two dozen companies that have committed to matching employee contributions to Trump accounts. Among the employers that have committed to doing so are Charles Schwab, JPMorgan, Intel, Chipotle, and Dell Technologies (the founder of the latter business, Michael Dell, has also pledged with his wife Susan to donate $6.25 billion to Trump Accounts.)

“The president foresees a day where matching contributions to Trump Accounts will be as integral to an employee benefits package as a matching 401(k),” Bessent said.

Whether Trump accounts become as standard as a 401(k) will depend on a number of factors, including forthcoming regulatory guidance and how attractive these savings vehicles are from a tax perspective.

Before committing to making Trump Account contributions, many employers are awaiting more information on how they’ll be treated by the tax code, as well as under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, Bloomberg Law recently reported.

The Trump administration has said employers may offer these accounts through a “cafeteria plan” that automatically deducts contributions from an employee’s salary, for example, but it’s not yet clear how companies would go about establishing a benefit using this structure. The Treasury said in Dec. 2 guidance that it plans to propose regulations to this end.

HR teams will also need to consider whether their workers would actually want to take advantage of a Trump Account employer match. Companies may already offer other fringe benefits that help employees build savings, such as flexible savings accounts or health savings accounts. And if employees are specifically interested in saving for their kids’ education, it’s not clear that these Trump Accounts would be a better option than a 529 plan, HR Brew reported last July.