On February 17, 2026, we published an article titled “Trump Accounts – Form 4547 and Forthcoming Proposed Regulations”, which discussed: (i) a new type of §408(a) traditional IRA added as §530A by OBBBA known as a “Trump Account”; (ii) the use of new IRS Form 4547, Trump Account Election(s), to establish a Trump Account; and (iii) forthcoming proposed regulations announced in Notice 2025-68. The article raised a thoughtful question raised by a long-time attendee of our programs: whether an individual contributing to a Trump Account must file Form 709, United States Gift (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return, because the contribution may be treated as a gift of a future interest, which does not qualify for the annual gift tax exclusion, at least until Congress enacts a technical correction. On February 24 of the following week, we responded to this question with an email blast titled “Gift and GST Reporting for Trump Accounts”, explaining that until a technical correction is enacted, Form 709 is required to be filed for contributions to Trump Accounts.
Rather than waiting for Congress to pass a technical correction, last week the IRS addressed the issue, albeit in a limited manner, issuing Rev. Proc. 2026-25, 2026-29 IRB (June 29, 2026). Provided certain requirements are met (discussed below), the Rev. Proc. establishes a safe harbor under which contributions to one or more Trump Accounts will be treated as completed gifts to the account beneficiaries that are not future interests in property and to which the annual exclusion applies. Taxpayers who make contributions to Trump Accounts will meet the safe harbor and will not be required to file Form 709 with respect to such contributions if (i) the taxpayer’s only taxable gifts (total gifts made during the calendar year, excluding gifts that qualify for the annual exclusion, less any applicable deductions (e.g., charitable or marital deductions),) for the year are qualifying cash contributions to Trump Accounts (limited to $5,000 per Trump account per year, adjusted for inflation after 2027), with each contribution made before the calendar year in which the account beneficiary attains age 18, (ii) the taxpayer’s total gifts to each account beneficiary (including contributions to the account beneficiary’s Trump Account) do not exceed the annual exclusion amount ($19,000 for 2026), (iii) the contributions create no gift or GST tax liability after applying any remaining applicable credit amount or GST exemption, and (iv) disregarding the Trump Account contributions, no gift tax return is required or otherwise filed for the year by the taxpayer.
The Rev. Proc. provided a helpful example where a taxpayer contributes $5,000 to each of three Trump Accounts for A, B and C and gives C an additional $13,000 cash gift. Based on these facts, the safe harbor applies because the total gifts to C are $18,000, which is below the 2026 annual exclusion amount of $19,000. The example then changes the facts by increasing the cash gift to C from $13,000 to $14,500. Now, C receives total gifts of $19,500 from the taxpayer, which exceeds the 2026 annual exclusion by $500. Consequently, the safe harbor does not apply, and the taxpayer must file Form 709 reporting the Trump Account contributions to A, B and C as gifts of future interests.
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