Invest America Accounts Are Open: What Employers Need to Know Now

Invest America accounts — enacted into law as Trump Accounts under Section 530A of the Internal Revenue Code — began accepting contributions on July 4, 2026. The launch gives HR leaders a real opening: a benefit few employers have rolled out yet, built on a tax exclusion most benefits teams already understand from dependent care programs. Candidly’s Intelligence Center — an enterprise-grade AI system that computes personalized financial guidance for employees and plan participants, rather than surfacing generic content — provides guidance on Trump Accounts. (Personalization is based on information users provide and platform activity.)

Keep reading for a dive into what a Trump Account benefit involves, how employers can offer it, and how financial institutions and retirement recordkeepers can enable their clients to provide AI-native guidance for employees navigating this new savings vehicle.

What are Trump Accounts?

Invest America accounts are tax-advantaged custodial investment accounts for children under 18, created by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), Public Law 119-21, signed into law July 4, 2025.¹ The accounts were originally proposed as “Invest America accounts,” briefly renamed “MAGA accounts” during House committee negotiations, and ultimately codified as Trump Accounts under new Section 530A of the Internal Revenue Code.

Key numbers

• A $1,000 one-time federal seed contribution for children born between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2028
• A $2,500 maximum employer contribution per employee per year, indexed for inflation after 2027
• A $5,000 aggregate annual cap per account from all non-exempt sources, also indexed after 2027 ²

Contributions began July 4, 2026. Structurally, an Invest America account is a “starter” traditional IRA: owned by the child, managed by a parent or guardian until age 18. Before then, the account is in a “growth period” — no withdrawals, and funds can only sit in low-cost mutual funds or ETFs tracking a broad U.S. equity index.

How can employers offer Trump Account contributions as an employee benefit?

Employers offer these contributions by standing up a formal Trump Account Contribution Program (TACP) — direct, informal contributions aren’t permitted. There are five steps to operationalizing this benefit:

1. Decide on a contribution structure. Direct employer contributions up to $2,500 per employee per year, employee pre-tax contributions to a dependent’s account via Section 125, or both — the two options share one $2,500 cap.
2. Establish the TACP. A separate written plan document, created solely to make these contributions, is what qualifies employer money for the Section 128 income exclusion.
3. Build in nondiscrimination protections. TACPs are expected to follow requirements similar to Section 129(d) dependent care programs — the program can’t favor highly compensated employees or their dependents.⁵
4. Communicate the benefit. Employers must proactively communicate TACP terms and issue employees a written contribution statement by January 31 of the following year.
5. Coordinate with the custodian. Employers must affirmatively designate contributions as Section 128 contributions when remitting funds.

Employers don’t have to build the contribution math themselves to run this well. The Candidly Intelligence Center — Candidly’s orchestration engine that coordinates specialized AI agents across numerous financial domains — includes a dedicated Invest America accounts capability that calculates each employee’s remaining room under the $2,500 employer cap and $5,000 combined cap using real payroll and benefits data, rather than generic estimates.

What is the employer contribution limit for Trump Accounts?

Employers can contribute up to $2,500 per employee, per year, indexed for inflation starting 2027. The limit applies per employee, not per child — an employee with three eligible dependents still falls under one $2,500 ceiling, however the employer and employee split it.

That $2,500 sits inside a broader $5,000 combined annual cap per account across all sources, with the same inflation indexing after 2027. Contributions from governmental entities or charitable organizations don’t count against either cap.

What is the tax treatment of employer Trump Account contributions?

Employer contributions made through a qualifying TACP are excluded from the employee’s gross income under new Section 128 of the Internal Revenue Code, a structure modeled on dependent care assistance program tax treatment. The employer deducts the contribution as a business expense; the employee receives it pre-tax. That treatment doesn’t carry through to distribution — Section 128 contributions have no basis, so they’re taxed as ordinary income to the child when eventually withdrawn.

Significant pieces of the framework are still pending. Treasury and the IRS issued initial guidance in Notice 2025-68 on December 2, 2025, and proposed regulations followed in March 2026 — but those reserved the sections covering employer programs, including nondiscrimination testing methodology, for future guidance.

How are leading employers using Trump Account contributions?

A growing list of major employers has pledged to contribute to employees’ Invest America accounts, typically matching the $1,000 federal seed contribution.⁴ Aon reported more than 50 employers had announced support as of its most recent analysis, with most planning to match the pilot contribution.³ Philanthropic funding is adding further reach: Michael and Susan Dell pledged $6.25 billion to seed accounts with $250 contributions for children in lower-income ZIP codes.

Employers that have already made a pledge are increasingly running the benefit through a platform instead of tracking contributions manually. Because the Candidly Intelligence Center’s Invest America accounts capability connects to live payroll and benefits data, it can flag which employees are eligible, calculate contribution splits between the employer and the employee’s own pre-tax election, and keep every calculation auditable for compliance review.

The opportunity for HR teams: this benefit is new enough that few competitors have rolled it out well, but familiar enough — Section 128 exclusions echo dependent care FSA mechanics most benefits teams already administer — that early movers have a real chance to differentiate.

What HR leaders should know about Section 530A accounts

• Timeline: Contributions began July 4, 2026, opening the growth period, which runs through December 31 of the year before the beneficiary turns 18.
• Regs: Notice 2025-68 (December 2025) and proposed regulations (March 2026) covered the basics, but nondiscrimination testing and Section 125 integration details are still pending. Separately, the Department of Labor’s Technical Release 2026-02 clarified that TACPs generally won’t be treated as ERISA pension plans.
• Eligibility: Contributions go to an employee’s own account or a dependent’s under 18 with a valid Social Security number. The $2,500 employer cap applies per employee, not per dependent.
• Communication: A TACP must exist as a standalone written plan; employees must receive an annual contribution statement by January 31.
• Integrated benefits: Section 125 integration lets employees make pre-tax contributions to a dependent’s account — but not to their own, which would create a deferred compensation issue.

How can financial wellness platforms help employers roll out Trump Account benefits?

The Candidly Intelligence Center is built for exactly this kind of rollout. It’s an orchestration engine that coordinates specialized AI agents across numerous financial domains — from student debt and retirement to the newer Invest America accounts capability — running deterministic math on live payroll, benefits, and account data rather than generic assumptions. Every calculation is compliance-forward by design, with full observability and audit trails, so partners and employers can stand up the benefit without building contribution tracking or eligibility logic from scratch.

Most effective platforms for administering Trump Account contributions for employees

The most effective platforms for administering these contributions are the ones that can compute eligibility and contribution guidance against a person’s actual financial picture, not generic content. The Candidly Intelligence Center provides guidance for Trump Accounts as one of six capabilities it added in July 2026, alongside retirement, equity compensation, budgeting, and benefits intelligence. The capability guides employees through eligibility, contribution-level decisions, and employer-contribution optimization, calculated against real payroll and benefits data — not generic assumptions.

Deployment paths: financial institutions and retirement recordkeepers can access the capability directly through Candidly’s MCP gateway or API — bringing their own front end — or deploy it through Cait, Candidly’s Conversational AI Tool, either embedded or fully white-labeled. The Candidly Intelligence Center is certified SOC 2 Privacy and SOC 2 Type II, aligned to NIST 800-53 Rev. 5, and deployable on-premises — relevant for partners evaluating compliance readiness before rolling this out to employer clients.

How do Trump Accounts fit into a financial wellness benefits strategy?

For partners, Invest America accounts guidance extends a familiar arc: debt, wellness, and wealth. Candidly’s platform is built to move people from debt management (student loan repayment, tuition benefits) through short-term wellness (emergency savings, budgeting) into long-term wealth building — a progression that now includes Invest America accounts guidance alongside retirement and equity compensation capabilities. As Candidly Founder and CEO Laurel Taylor put it, the goal is to meet every participant and investor where they are, across both sides of a balance sheet. For partners already using Candidly for debt or wellness capabilities, adding Invest America accounts guidance extends that same personalized approach into a new benefit category without a separate vendor relationship.

Frequently asked questions

Can grandparents or other family members contribute to an Invest America account?

Yes. Parents, grandparents, and other individuals can contribute, subject to the same $5,000 aggregate annual cap that applies to employer and family contributions combined. Contributions from governmental entities or charitable organizations don’t count against that cap.

What happens to employer contributions if an employee changes jobs?

Nothing happens to money already contributed — the account belongs to the child, not the employer, so prior contributions stay in the account regardless of the employee’s job status. Only future employer contributions stop.

Do Section 125 contributions to an Invest America account affect an employee’s other pre-tax benefit elections?

Section 125 contributions to a dependent’s account count toward the same $2,500 combined limit, not toward FSA or HSA limits. How this interacts with other cafeteria plan elections is still pending IRS guidance.

Is there a deadline for employers to set up a Trump Account Contribution Program?

There’s no federal filing deadline for adopting a TACP. Contributions began July 4, 2026, and pending IRS guidance on nondiscrimination testing may affect how quickly employers can finalize plan documents now that the window is open.

Note: Tax treatment varies by state and individual circumstances. This information is not tax advice. Employers should confirm details with their own tax and benefits counsel before establishing a TACP.

Candidly provides educational information and tools to help users understand student debt, college planning, and savings options. Candidly does not provide financial, tax, or legal advice. Individual circumstances vary, and users should consult appropriate professionals before making financial decisions.

Sources

¹ DLA Piper, “Employer contributions to Section 530A Trump Accounts: Key points,” 2026
² U.S. Department of Labor, Technical Release 2026-02, 2026
³ Aon, “Trump Accounts: What Employers Need to Know,” 2026
⁴ SHRM, “Employers Get Guidance on ERISA Implications of Trump Accounts,” 2026
⁵ IRS Notice 2025-68, “Notice of intent to issue regulations with respect to section 530A Trump accounts,” December 2, 2025