It depends. First of all, your wife may be the grantor since she is the creator of the Trust. As the name suggests, a Grantor “grants” assets or property to a Grantee (beneficiary - the person or entity receiving the assets. Your son would be considered the beneficiary in this case.
As far as using an SSN or TIN, it depends on the type of trust whether it is established as a revocable or irrevocable trust. If the trust is irrevocable, it needs to have its own TIN. If it is revocable, then your wife may use her own Social Security Number as she can make changes to the trust once it is in force. You may ask your estate attorney if the trust he/she set up is revocable or irrevocable.
Now for the most important part of your question. If you add your own assets to the account, this is considered a gift thus you would need to file a gift tax return if the gift is over $17,000. Since a gift tax return is filed individually and not jointly, you may contribute up to $34,000 between the two of you and you will not have a Gift Tax reporting requirement.
If the trust is set up as a separate entity with its own EIN, it will be responsible for paying the tax and then passed on the the beneficiary. The beneficiary (your son) will be responsible for paying the taxes and be issued the K1 to report on his tax return.
If it is a revocable trust or grantor trust (same thing), your wife will be responsible for the payment of taxes to be reported on your individual joint tax return.
@SteveJ57
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