2026 Unified Regulatory Agenda Details DAF Rules, Plans Guidance
The Trump Administration recently released its 2026 Unified Regulatory Agenda, which details ongoing and forthcoming regulatory projects that every agency, including the Treasury Department, plans to work on over the coming months.
While Treasury’s agenda largely focuses on implementing provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, it also includes multiple items relevant to the charitable sector. It sets a target date for each next action.
DAF regulation timing: For the long-awaited donor-advised fund regulations proposed in 2023, the URA sets a July 2026 target date for their finalization. Importantly, these target dates are flexible and frequently slip. For example, the 2025 URA set a May 2026 target date for final action on the DAF regulations, while the Fall 2024 URA listed March 2025 as the target.
If the DAF regulations were set to be finalized this month, they would likely already need to be at the White House’s Office of Management and Budget for review, which they’re not. However, other regulations in the final rule stage have target dates for finalization later this year, indicating that the DAF regulations could be among Treasury’s higher-priority items at that stage.
Form 990 plans: The URA indicates that Treasury is aiming to propose regulations on “Form 990 fiscal sponsorship reporting” in August. This regulatory effort likely stems from Treasury’s Form 990 “transparency initiative” announced in the Spring, in which the agency identified fiscal sponsorship arrangements as an area where it would like to increase reporting to detect misconduct and enhance accountability. Notably, this was the only forthcoming regulation on Form 990 included in the URA, signaling that Treasury’s transparency initiative could be more narrowly focused on fiscal sponsorship arrangements than something targeting the sector more broadly. However, it’s also possible that these forthcoming regulations are just the first part of the initiative, and more 990 regulations or guidance could emerge impacting other sector organizations.
Looming guidance on stock donations to Trump Accounts: The URA also included several rulemaking projects to implement new Trump Accounts, including one to provide guidance on eligible investments for these accounts. The project may stem from Treasury’s announcement last week that it will accept large philanthropic contributions of readily tradable public company stock to support Trump Accounts.
It’s unclear whether depositing single shares of public stock into a Trump Account will be permissible under the law. However, allowing donors to contribute directly to Trump Accounts could diminish the role of philanthropic vehicles typically used to facilitate donations of appreciated stock. The proposed guidance, which should further illuminate Treasury’s plans and the potential implications for philanthropic vehicles vis-à-vis stock contributions to Trump Accounts, was recently sent to the White House’s OMB for review, signaling that it should be released in the coming weeks.
