The Treasury Department will automatically enroll tens of millions of children in the government's new Trump Accounts as soon as this week, replacing the previous structure that required parents or guardians to sign up, the agency said in rules published Tuesday.

The auto-enrollment change will ensure much broader access to the child investment accounts, creating them for more than 60 million additional children under age 18, according to the Treasury Department. The shift to auto enrollment means that broad contributions from wealthy donors-like the $6.25 billion pledge from Michael Dell-would get to more households.

"Stakeholders have expressed that eligible donors prefer that their contributions reach all children, not just children whose parents have the awareness to opt in," the rules say.

The administration rolled out Trump Accounts with fanfare in early July, pushing them as a way for children to save and invest well before they could typically qualify for some other tax-advantaged accounts. As of the end of July, the Treasury Department had processed 5.6 million forms to open the accounts, or less than 8% of eligible children.

The accounts come with a government contribution of $1,000 for children born from 2025 through 2028. But auto-enrollment won't automatically trigger that contribution. Under last year's tax law, which created Trump Accounts, taxpayers must specifically elect to get that $1,000, and Tuesday's rules don't change that.

Additionally, parents and guardians must take further steps to claim those automatically created accounts to take full advantage of them. Claiming the accounts would also let them make their own contributions or accept employer contributions.

The accounts are being managed through Robinhood and the Bank of New York Mellon. There is a dedicated phone app and website for the accounts. Tuesday's rules don't provide full details for how parents and guardians can claim accounts for children who are being auto-enrolled.

Administration officials had previously contended that the law didn't allow the government to create accounts for people who don't enroll.

They wrote in Tuesday's rules that they "found a path to overcome those constraints." They will use a master group trust that can handle transactions without getting specific information about individuals that investment managers wouldn't be legally able to receive. That also will enable the government to add about two million additional newborns a year without parents signing up.

The government also created a framework for private donors to put appreciated stock directly into Trump Accounts. That move could spur more donations from wealthy Americans but also introduces the child accounts to the risk of holding individual securities.

Although the law requires Trump Accounts to be invested only in diversified, low-cost indexes, the Treasury Department said direct donations of stock don't violate that prohibition. Their logic: The donations are merely being received by the Trump Accounts, not purchased with Trump Accounts funds.

Those stocks must be held for five years before being sold, according to the regulations.

Allowing those stock donations will create a pathway for wealthy donors with appreciated securities. They can donate stock to a charity, which can then donate them to Trump Accounts. The donor avoids capital-gains taxes, gets an income-tax deduction and pushes assets out of taxable estates.

In the rules, the Treasury Department said there are several donors who are ready to make Dell-sized contributions of stock but who wouldn't donate cash. The benefits from those additional donations will outweigh the additional risk from more concentrated portfolios, the government concluded.