Cash balance

[Yil]

me and my 3 partners decided to sign up for defined benefit plan ( aka cash balance). But we got obstacle.

We are 4 physician group of nephrologist in Georgia. All are partners. We have joint venture dialysis clinics ownership. Attorney informed us that ‘ due to stark law ( we have patients where we have investments) we can’t open cash balance. Unlike if the investment is in a product which we don’t have to refer a patient!!! ‘

Do you have any suggestion on how we can bypass this??

[Molar Mechanic]

I have nothing to add, but I think there are a lot of groups out there that have surgery centers and cash balance plans.

I’d get another opinion.

[Turf Doc]

I dont really understand how a retirement account has anything to do with the stark law? are there any examples in the public record that used this argument?

[zlandar]

A cash balance plan is a qualified retirement plan like a 401k. If you have employees you may need to add some to the CBP to pass testing. So If your group owns part of a dialysis clinic you may have to include the employees at the clinic. You would have to talk to a specialist familiar with CBP for the details.

No idea how Stark law and CBP intersect.