Frank Bisignano, the Social Security Administration commissioner and Internal Revenue Service CEO, spent part of his Thursday defending the legality of the new stock-donation rules for Trump Accounts, arguing that Treasury has the authority to approve such contributions.

Appearing on CNBC's "Squawk Box," Bisignano covered a lot of ground: the program's expansion, the risks of concentrated stock bets and the IRS's growing appetite for artificial intelligence.

Stock Donations Raise Legal Questions

A host pressed him on whether allowing individual-stock donations departs from the program's original design, which generally steers account assets into eligible diversified investments. The host also flagged that concentrating investments in one or two stocks could leave beneficiaries more exposed if those shares fall.

Bisignano didn't flinch. He said the arrangements sit within the Treasury secretary's authority and defended the changes. "It is legal," he said, adding that the program would benefit American children.

The Treasury's updated rules allow certain qualified contributions in publicly traded U.S. corporate stock, with a five-year holding requirement generally applying to those shares.

On concentration risk, Bisignano waved off the concern, saying donations would come from multiple philanthropists and corporate matching programs. He said more than 70 companies had committed to participate and that additional donors were expected before year-end.

Trump Accounts Funding Push

Bisignano said the program had reached approximately 70 million enrolled accounts and expected 25 million to be funded by that weekend. He credited contributions from Michael and Susan Dell, Altimeter Capital CEO Brad Gerstner and other donors, and said the administration aimed to reach 70 million children by year-end.

He also said the government would keep communicating with households and work with donors individually to expand participation.

IRS Eyes AI for Taxpayer Services

Bisignano described tax collections as strong this year and said the IRS plans to use AI to improve taxpayer services, communication and the quality of its work.

"We'll always have humans, but our ability to manufacture a lot more work and higher quality work will be driven by AI," he said, adding that the IRS had held a two-day leadership meeting focused on the technology.

He said AI could help reduce false positives and improve how the agency handles taxpayer issues. Bisignano also described tax preparers as a distribution network for Trump Accounts, saying they would promote the program to clients with dependents. He expects the IRS to deliver strong performance in 2027.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by MarketDash editors.