Your Employer May Owe Your Kid $2,500 and Never Mentioned It

You heard your employer mention something about a new account for your kid, and you assumed it was just another benefits email to skim past.

It might be worth more than that.

Since July 4, 2026, employers have been able to contribute up to $2,500 per employee, per year, into a new federal savings vehicle for a dependent, known informally as a Trump Account, under new Internal Revenue Code § 128.  There is a $5,000 aggregate annual contribution cap across all sources, and the U.S. Department of Labor has confirmed through its own guidance that these programs generally sit outside the federal pension-law framework that governs most retirement benefits.  That means an employer can offer this without the same regulatory overhead as a 401(k) match, which also means it can be easy for an employer to quietly decide not to offer it at all.

California adds a wrinkle that most people, including many employers, have not sorted out yet.  California does not automatically match every new federal tax exclusion.  Whether this new federal benefit is treated the same way on your California state tax return is a genuinely open question under California’s own conformity rules, and if your employer runs the contribution through a payroll deduction, California’s own wage-deduction rules apply on top of that.

If you have a dependent and you have not asked your employer whether this benefit exists at your workplace, that is a conversation worth having, and if you already have questions about how a contribution like this was handled on your pay, that is worth a real look too.  Contact Michael Trust Law, APC for a no-charge initial consultation.  The facts determine whether you have a claim — and how much of a conversation that takes.

This post shares general information based on common patterns I see in California workplaces.  It is not legal advice, does not create an attorney-client relationship, and outcomes depend on specific facts — no lawyer can guarantee a result.  Past results do not guarantee or predict future outcomes.  AI may have been used to create this post.  All content reviewed by a CA attorney before publication.