New baby: the credits, the paperwork, and the account
The number to apply for at the hospital, the credits a first child unlocks, how care costs are covered, and the new savings account with a one-time deposit.
Quick answers
- When should I apply for my baby's Social Security number?
- At the hospital, when you register the birth. Almost every credit for a child needs the number on the return, and applying later means chasing it during filing season.
- What is a Trump account?
- A savings account for a child, invested in a fund tracking an index of primarily American companies, with a one-time government contribution for eligible children and a yearly cap on what anyone else adds.
- Can I claim a baby born in December for the whole year?
- Yes. A child born at any point in the year counts as a qualifying child for that year, provided the other tests are met, so a December birth gives the same credit as a January one.
A new child changes your return through a Social Security number, a filing status and two or three credits. It now also comes with a savings account the government seeds once, for children born in a defined window.
What changed for 2026
Trump accounts exist. A child born from the start of 2025 through the end of 2028 can receive a one-time contribution of $1,000 from the Treasury, provided an election is made for that child. The election goes in on a new form through your IRS online account, and contributions cannot be made before July 4, 2026.
The Social Security number comes first
Apply for the number when you register the birth at the hospital, which is the route the Social Security Administration describes for a first-time number. Almost every credit that follows from having a child requires that number on the return, so it is the piece of paperwork everything else waits on.
If the number has not arrived by the filing deadline, file an extension rather than filing the return without it. The child tax credit covers what the number has to be, and when it has to have been issued by.
The child tax credit
A qualifying child is worth up to $2,200 against your tax, and up to $1,700 of that can come back as a refund when the credit is larger than the tax you owe.
Birthdays do not prorate it. A child born on the last day of December counts for the whole of that year, as long as the other tests are met.
Filing status for a single parent
If you are unmarried and the child lives with you, head of household is usually the status to check first. The standard deduction is $23,625 instead of the $15,750 a single filer gets, and the rate bands are wider as well.
It has its own tests, mainly about who paid for the home and who the child lived with. Filing status walks through them.
Childcare: the credit or the account at work
Paid care so you could work is handled two ways. The child and dependent care credit counts up to $3,000 of care expenses for one qualifying person and gives back a share of them, starting at 35% and falling as income rises. The child and dependent care credit has the rate table and the tests.
The other route is a dependent care account through an employer, which takes up to $5,000 of pay out of your taxable income instead of giving a credit. You cannot count the same dollar twice, so money run through the account reduces the expenses the credit can look at.
The medical costs of the birth
Prenatal care, the delivery and the hospital stay are medical expenses, but they only reach the return if you itemize, and then only for the part above 7.5% of your adjusted gross income. Most new parents do better with the standard deduction, and Standard deduction or itemizing is where to check.
Trump accounts, in plain terms
A Trump account is a savings account held for a child and invested in a mutual fund or exchange traded fund that tracks an index of primarily United States companies. The one-time Treasury contribution of $1,000 is for a child who is expected to be a qualifying child, who was born in the window above, who is a United States citizen with a valid Social Security number, and for whom the election is made.
Everyone else together can add up to $5,000 a year while the account is growing. An employer may contribute up to $2,500 of that on behalf of an employee or an employee's dependent, and it counts against the same annual limit rather than sitting on top of it.
How to make the election
The election is Form 4547, Trump Account Election(s). You sign in to your IRS online account and submit it there, and it can go in at any time, including alongside your income tax return. Creating an IRS online account covers the identity check that gets you in, which is the part that takes the longest for most people.
What to keep
Keep the child's Social Security card, or the receipt for the application until the card arrives. Keep the hospital and provider statements, in case the year turns out to be one where itemizing wins. Keep the care provider's name, address and identifying number, because the credit will not go through without it. And keep the confirmation of the account election with the rest of the year's tax papers.