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Trump Account vs 529 vs custodial Roth IRA calculator
Same money, 3 accounts, taxed at the exit. This is the engine behind our Trump Account vs 529 article, with the inputs unlocked.
On the baseline this page loads with, $150 a month for 216 months at 7% lands at $64,608 before tax in the 529, and for college the 529 nets all $64,608 against the Trump Account's $62,922 at a 12% federal rate. The Trump Account gets there holding $67,207, because the $1,000 pilot deposit is in it and its own deposits stop 6 months early, and hands back $4,285 in tax. That is a $1,686 gap, and $67,207 minus $4,285 is the $62,922, because every dollar on this page is rounded to the nearest $1 and every difference subtracts the printed numbers. Change an input and every number below re-runs.
Run the projection
The federal rate below is the kid's rate in the year the money comes out, because the tax at the exit falls on the beneficiary.
What each account nets
| At the 18th birthday | Family money in | Pre-tax | Tax | Net |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trump Account | $31,500 | $67,207 | $4,285 | $62,922 |
| 529 | $32,400 | $64,608 | $0 | $64,608 |
| Custodial Roth IRA | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
On these inputs the 529 nets $64,608 at 18, which is $1,686 more than the Trump Account.
The 1 input that flips it is what the money is for: with money that never goes to school instead of college, the Trump Account nets more.
$150 a month ran from July 2026 to June 2044, 216 monthly deposits, which is $32,400 of family money into the 529. The Trump Account took $31,500 of it, landing in 210 of those months, because contributions stop at the end of 2043, the last calendar year before the one the kid turns 18, per 26 U.S.C. 530A(c)(2). The final 6 months of the window compound with no new money going in. It also holds the $1,000 pilot deposit, worth $3,513 by the 18th birthday. A 529 deduction at a 5% state rate is worth $1,620 across those years, not reinvested, and is not in the table above.
The custodial Roth IRA line is $0 because the kid's earned income is set to $0. The IRS caps a Roth IRA at the smaller of $7,500 and the kid's taxable compensation for the year, so with no pay there is nothing to contribute and the model prints $0 instead of a number the account could not legally hold.
2 assumptions sit under that 18th birthday table and both of them run in the 529's favor. The whole balance comes out in 1 year and every dollar of it pays a qualified education expense, which is what puts $0 in the 529 tax cell. The federal rate is then applied flat to the entire taxable lump, and a lump that size would not all sit in 1 bracket on a real return, so a real bill lands somewhere under the flat-rate figure. Every dollar here is rounded to the nearest $1, and every difference on this page is the printed numbers subtracted, so the rows and the margins add up as shown.
| At age 60 | Pre-tax | Tax | Net |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trump Account | $1,260,473 | $147,477 | $1,112,996 |
| 529 | $1,211,723 | $259,451 | $952,272 |
| Custodial Roth IRA | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Those are nominal dollars 42 years out, so inflation takes a large share of them. The age 60 row is there to show what kind of account each one turns into, not to price a retirement.
| Return | Trump Account | 529 | Custodial Roth IRA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5% a year | $51,235 | $52,380 | $0 |
| 7% a year | $62,922 | $64,608 | $0 |
| 9% a year | $78,191 | $80,453 | $0 |
What the model does with each account
The 3 accounts hold the same monthly deposit and earn the same return. Everything that separates them happens at the exit.
Half the comparison charts on this subject line up 529, 530A and 6434 like that clears anything up, print 3 balances, and stop. The balance is the 1 number all 3 accounts agree on. The exit is where they stop agreeing, so the exit is where this page spends its time.
A Trump Account is a traditional IRA, per IRS Notice 2025-68. Family money going in is after-tax, so it becomes basis and comes back out untaxed. The growth, the $1,000 pilot deposit and its growth are the taxable part. Before 59 and a half that taxable part carries a 10% additional tax on top of income tax, and the education exception waives the 10% and nothing else.
A 529 takes after-tax money, grows with no federal tax, and comes out with no federal tax for qualified education. Spent on anything else, the earnings take income tax plus 10%.
We ran the age 60 row 3 separate times, because the first 2 times we assumed we had broken the 529. We had not. Held to 60 and then spent on anything other than school, a 529 is a non-qualified withdrawal, and the engine prices it like one.
A custodial Roth IRA is capped at the smaller of the 2026 IRA limit of $7,500 and the kid's taxable compensation for the year. That is the gate a newborn cannot clear. Set earned income above $0 and the arm starts funding at the lesser of that pay, the limit and the monthly contribution.
The Trump Account arm also holds the $5,000 per child per calendar year cap, so a contribution over $416 a month stops funding it partway through any full calendar year while the 529 keeps going. The first and last years of the window are short and the cap binds later in those: 2026 takes only 6 deposits on the baseline, so nothing is trimmed there until over $833 a month. The $1,000 pilot deposit sits outside that cap and only lands for a birth in 2025 through 2028.
It stops earlier than the other 2 as well. 26 U.S.C. 530A(c)(2) writes the Trump Account contribution rule for contributions made before the calendar year the kid turns 18, and 530A(b)(1)(C)(i)(II) is the matching bar in the account's governing instrument. From Jan 1 of that year the account is an ordinary traditional IRA under 530A(a), which needs the kid's own taxable compensation. So on the baseline the Trump Account takes 210 deposits against the 529's 216, and the last 6 months of the window compound with no new money in them. A January baby loses nothing to this, because the 18th birthday already lands on the cutoff.
The long version of this comparison, with the rules and the sources behind each one, is in Trump Account vs 529: which is better. The earned-income gate has its own article in custodial Roth IRA vs 529.
What the math says
Before tax the accounts land in the same place on the same deposit. The exit is the whole story: tax-free only exists in the 529, and only for qualified education, while the Trump Account trades that away for a $1,000 head start and 42 more years of compounding as a retirement account.
The variable that decides it is what the money is for. The custodial Roth IRA is not in that race at all. Its yearly cap is the kid's taxable compensation, so with no pay it holds $0, and with enough pay the most it does at 18 is land on the 529's number, never a dollar above it. What it buys is the exit after 18, a balance that comes out with no federal tax at all from 59 and a half on, and not a bigger number on the 18th birthday.
The full breakdown · Free
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How we ran the numbers
Every figure on this page comes from assets/calc-trump.js, which grows each balance month by month. Nothing is estimated by hand. Every dollar figure is rounded to the nearest $1, and every difference is those rounded figures subtracted, so a net is the printed pre-tax minus the printed tax and a margin is 1 printed net minus another.
- Deposits land at the end of each month, from the later of the birth month and July 2026 to the 18th birthday. No money goes into a Trump Account before July 4, 2026, per the Form 4547 instructions and 26 U.S.C. 530A(b)(1)(C)(i)(I), and the model holds that start date on all 3 accounts so the only difference left is the tax treatment.
- The Trump Account arm stops depositing earlier than the other 2. Its contributions run to Dec 31 of the calendar year before the one the kid turns 18, per 26 U.S.C. 530A(c)(2) and 530A(b)(1)(C)(i)(II), and the balance compounds from Jan 1 of the age 18 year to the birthday with nothing added. On the baseline that is 210 deposits into the Trump Account against 216 into the 529 and the custodial Roth, which are not governed by 530A.
- The return is nominal and compounds monthly. 7% a year is 0.5833% a month. It is a modeling assumption, not a forecast.
- No fund fees on any of the 3. No inflation adjustment. No raises to the contribution.
- The $1,000 pilot deposit lands at the start of the deposit window and grows to the 18th birthday. It only applies to a birth in 2025 through 2028.
- Trump Account: family contributions are basis, capped at $5,000 per calendar year and accepted only in calendar years before the age 18 year. The taxable part is the balance minus that basis. Income tax on the taxable part at the rate you set, plus 10% before 59 and a half unless the money pays for education.
- 529: no federal yearly cap. Qualified education is tax free. Anything else is income tax plus 10% on the earnings.
- Custodial Roth IRA: contributions are capped at the lesser of the kid's earned income, the $7,500 IRA limit and the monthly contribution. The earned income figure you enter is held flat across every year of the projection, which is generous in the baby years. Education waives the 10% and leaves income tax on the earnings. At 60 the distribution is qualified and takes no tax.
- Age 60: nothing added after 18, 504 more months of growth, then the full balance comes out. The 10% is gone for both IRAs. A 529 at 60 is priced as a non-qualified withdrawal, which is income tax plus 10% on the earnings. The source article does not model a 529 at 60, so that row is ours.
- State 529 deduction: each calendar year's contributions times the state rate you set, with no state cap applied. Savings are not reinvested and do not appear in the tables.
- Federal tax only, applied as a single flat marginal rate on the whole taxable part, which a real return would spread across more than 1 bracket. No state income tax on the withdrawal, no California 2.5% line, no kiddie tax, no FAFSA effect.
- The full balance comes out in 1 year at each exit, and the 529 exit at 18 assumes every dollar of it pays a qualified education expense that year. That is what makes the 529 tax cell read $0.
The full spec, and the check that the engine reproduces our published article exactly, is on the methodology page.
Checked Sep 17, 2026: $1,000 pilot deposit for US citizen kids born 2025 through 2028, with no money in any Trump Account before July 4, 2026. $5,000 yearly cap per child for 2026 and 2027, indexed after 2027, and that cap covers only calendar years before the one the kid turns 18, per 26 U.S.C. 530A(c)(2). A Trump Account is a traditional IRA, so the taxable part takes income tax plus 10% before 59 and a half unless an exception applies. 529 non-qualified earnings take income tax plus 10%. The 2026 IRA limit is $7,500, capped at the kid's taxable compensation. Rates and limits move, so check the date on this line before you lean on it.
Sources
- Office of the Law Revision Counsel, "26 U.S.C. 530A, Trump accounts", checked Sep 17, 2026
- Office of the Law Revision Counsel, "26 U.S.C. 6434, Trump accounts contribution pilot program", checked Sep 17, 2026
- Office of the Law Revision Counsel, "26 U.S.C. 529, Qualified tuition programs", checked Sep 17, 2026
- IRS, "Internal Revenue Bulletin 2025-52, Notice 2025-68", checked Sep 17, 2026
- IRS, "Instructions for Form 4547, Trump Account Election(s)", checked Sep 17, 2026
- IRS, "Publication 590-B, Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements", checked Sep 17, 2026
- IRS, "Retirement topics, exceptions to tax on early distributions", checked Sep 17, 2026
- IRS, "Retirement topics, IRA contribution limits", checked Sep 17, 2026
- IRS, "Publication 970, Tax Benefits for Education", checked Sep 17, 2026
