Brian Carn Jr. admitted to underreporting his income and filing false tax returns.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville pastor faces up to three years in federal prison after he admitted trying to duck tax obligations that could total as much as $1.5 million.
Brian Carn Jr. pleaded guilty Jan. 15 to endeavoring to obstruct administration of the federal tax code, court records show.
Carn is pastor of Kingdom City Church, whose website lists locations in Jacksonville, Houston and Charlotte, N.C., but says services are not being held in Jacksonville because of upcoming construction.
The church has operated in Jacksonville since 2016, according to its website.
Carn, 37, also operates Brian Carn Ministries, whose website reports he has “an international following of well over 300,000 people.” An online biography page links to sites including a “BCM Store” and “Prophet’s Amazon Storefront.”
A release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Carn filed a tax return in 2016 that reported more than $1.4 million in income and taxes due of more than $600,000. The release said Carn didn’t pay that money and filed an amended return that reduced his reported income by $1.3 million.
The release said Carn hired a new accountant for the reduced return and gave the accountant a false, backdate employment agreement that showed him earning $120,000 yearly with a housing allowance of another $24,000.
In the following years, Carn filed other tax returns that also underreported his income, then stopped filing tax returns at all in 2020, the release said.
Carn also made a series of false statements while the Internal Revenue Service was trying to collect the back taxes, the release said. It Carn’s efforts could have cost the IRS between $550,000 and $1.5 million.
No date has been set for Carn to be sentenced.
Editor’s note: This story was first published by our news partners, The Florida Times-Union.