TreasuryDirect lets businesses, trusts, estates, and similar entities hold U.S. Treasury securities directly — but there’s a hard rule before anything else: whoever opens and manages the account needs full, solo legal authority to act on behalf of that entity. If your organization requires two signatures on financial decisions, or any kind of shared approval process, an entity account simply won’t work for you. (Opening an account for a child is a separate process covered elsewhere.)
TreasuryDirect calls the person who runs the account the “entity account manager.” This person opens the account, manages securities, and handles all transactions. There’s no co-manager option, no delegation, no workaround — one person, one account, and that person must actually have the legal standing to act on their own.
During setup, you’ll create a password, pick security questions, and choose a personalized image and caption that TreasuryDirect uses to verify your identity. Your account number gets sent by email once everything is complete. You’ll need that number plus your password every time you sign in.
Entity accounts come with some real restrictions that are worth knowing before you start:
These are off the table:
What’s required:
TreasuryDirect currently accepts accounts for:
Unincorporated associations, government organizations or officers, and tribal organizations are not eligible. If you’re coming from a Legacy TreasuryDirect account, you can transfer existing securities over — check the Legacy transfer instructions for how that works.
Whatever name goes on the account has to match the entity’s actual legal name. Here’s how each type breaks down.
Open to any entity incorporated under state law. The registration needs to reflect corporate status.
For individuals or organizations appointed by a court to represent a deceased person’s estate. Government-appointed legal representatives don’t qualify here.
Available to any entity that has filed articles of organization under state law, with the registration referencing LLC status.
For court-appointed guardians managing the estate of a living person under guardianship. Government-appointed guardians are not eligible.
Covers two or more people operating as a partnership, including limited liability partnerships. If the business name doesn’t already make the partnership status obvious, the registration needs to spell it out.
Same structure as an LLC, but for professional service entities organized as a PLLC under state law. The registration must reference PLLC status.
For individuals running a business on their own.
Available to trustees acting on behalf of a trust, with one exception: trustees acting on behalf of any federal, state, or local government entity are not eligible.
The account manager must certify they can act alone for the trust. The registration has to clearly identify the trust and must include:
Example registrations:
Tax ID: The trust’s EIN or the grantor’s Social Security Number.
If the trustees are individuals, one of them serves as entity account manager and that person’s name must appear in the registration. If the trustee is an organization, the account manager must be a duly authorized employee of that organization, and the organization itself must be named in the registration.
One situation to flag: If your trust document lists co-trustees joined by “AND” — for example, John Doe and Sarah Jones, Trustees under Agreement with Jane Doe dated January 1, 2001 — you’ll need to submit documentation showing that either co-trustee can act independently. Acceptable documents include a Certificate of Trust, a Memorandum of Trust, or the relevant pages from the trust document. What to include:
Mail these to:
Treasury Retail Securities Services PO Box 214 Minneapolis, MN 55480-0214
When setting up the account, you’ll need to provide a name control — a short code the IRS assigns, usually the first four characters of a business name or a taxpayer’s last name. TreasuryDirect uses it alongside your Taxpayer Identification Number to match IRS records. Getting this wrong can create problems with electronic reporting. If you’re not sure what yours is, head to IRS.gov and search “name control.”
Because the account manager is the only person who can act on the account, swapping that role out requires some paperwork. Both the outgoing and incoming managers may need to complete the applicable sections of FS Form 5446 (TreasuryDirect Offline Transaction Request), and you’ll need to submit legal documentation explaining the reason for the change. Depending on the situation, that might be a trust document, letters of resignation, a partnership agreement, a corporate resolution, articles of organization, letters of appointment, or a death certificate. TreasuryDirect does not return any legal documents once submitted.
The registration field has a character limit, so standard abbreviations are acceptable in place of full words or titles when entering your entity’s name.