Trust Fund / Trust Fund Accounts (CongressionalGlossary.com)

From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms

Trust Fund / Trust Fund Accounts

Funds collected and used by the Federal Government for carrying out specific purposes and programs according to terms of a trust agreement or statute, such as the Social Security trust funds.

Accounts designated as “trust funds” by law, regardless of any other meaning of the term “trust fund.” A trust fund account is usually either a receipt, an expenditure, or a revolving fund account. Except in rare circumstances (for example, Indian Trust Funds), a trust fund account imposes no fiduciary responsibility on the federal government. For a fuller discussion of trust funds, see Federal Trust and Other Earmarked Funds: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (95-page PDF PDF ). (See also Earmarking.)

Trust Fund Expenditure Account. An appropriation account established to record appropriated amounts of trust fund receipts used to finance specific purposes or programs under a trust agreement or statute.

Trust Fund Receipt Account. A receipt account credited with collections classified as trust fund collections. These collections are recorded as either governmental receipts or offsetting receipts.

Trust Revolving Fund Account. A trust fund expenditure account that is an appropriation account authorized to be credited with collections and used, without further appropriation action, to carry out a cycle of business-type operations in accordance with statute.

Fiduciary funds | Agency Funds | Trust Funds | CPA exam FAR | Governmental Accounting course

“Social Security: The Trust Funds,” CRS Report RL33028 (26-page PDF)
“Social Security: What Would Happen if the Trust Funds Ran Out?,” CRS Report RL33514 (25-page PDF)
“Federal Trust Funds and the Budget,” CRS Report R41328 (21-page PDF)
“Forest Service Accountability in Administering Its Trust Funds,” CRS Report RS20486 (8-page PDF)
“Transportation Trust Funds: Budgetary Treatment,” CRS Report 98-63 (34-page PDF)
“The Unemployment Trust Fund (UTF): State Insolvency and Federal Loans to States,” CRS Report RS22954 (16-page PDF)
“Funding and Financing Highways and Public Transportation,” CRS Report R44674 (30-page PDF)
“Overview of Funding Mechanisms in the Federal Budget Process, and Selected Examples,” CRS Report R44582 (48-page PDF)

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