A Jacksonville pastor who claimed an international following of over 300,000 people pleaded guilty January 15 to obstructing federal tax administration in a scheme that could have cost the government as much as $1.5 million, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.
Brian Carn Jr., 37, admitted to filing false tax returns, fabricating employment documents, and making misleading statements to the IRS over multiple years. He faces up to three years in federal prison, though no sentencing date has been set.
How the Scheme Unfolded
Carn leads Kingdom City Church, which lists locations in Jacksonville, Houston, and Charlotte, North Carolina, and also operates Brian Carn Ministries. In 2016, he filed a tax return reporting more than $1.4 million in income and taxes due exceeding $600,000, according to prosecutors.
Rather than pay, Carn hired a new accountant and filed an amended return that slashed his reported income by $1.3 million. To support the dramatic reduction, he provided the accountant with a backdated employment agreement showing annual compensation of just $120,000 plus a $24,000 housing allowance.
In subsequent years, Carn continued filing returns that underreported his actual income. By 2020, he stopped filing tax returns altogether. When the IRS attempted to collect the back taxes, Carn made a series of false statements, prosecutors said.
U.S. Attorney Roger Handberg said in a statement that Carn’s “repeated lies and schemes to hide his substantial income demonstrate a clear intent to obstruct the IRS.”
Part of a Broader Pattern
The case fits within a larger trend of federal prosecutions targeting religious leaders who abuse tax privileges designed for clergy. The U.S. tax code provides ministers with special treatment, including the parsonage allowance under Internal Revenue Code Section 107, which allows housing costs up to fair rental value to be excluded from taxable income.
These provisions require accurate reporting of total compensation. Abuses typically involve inflating allowances or underreporting non-housing income, exactly what prosecutors allege Carn did when he fabricated the employment agreement showing a $144,000 total package rather than the $1.4 million he actually earned.
Florida has seen a surge in federal tax prosecutions recently. The U.S. Attorney’s Middle District of Florida secured over 150 convictions in 2024 and 2025 for schemes involving off-books payrolls and false returns, often connected to high-income professionals and nonprofits. Religious organizations and ministries accounted for roughly 15 percent of such cases in 2025.
Similar high-profile cases include the 2019 conviction of Houston pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell for multimillion-dollar tax evasion using fraudulent bonds, which resulted in a 6.5-year prison sentence. In 2023, Florida televangelist Todd Coontz faced charges for $5 million in unreported income funneled through shell entities.
Enforcement Trends and Statistics
Tax crime filings in Florida rose 28 percent from 2023 to 2025, with $1.8 billion in assessed fraud. Roughly 18 percent involved nonprofits or ministries, according to federal data.
IRS obstruction convictions carry up to three years in prison per count under federal law. In 2025, the average sentence was 24 months with $250,000 in restitution for losses exceeding $500,000.
Religious organizations filed 1.2 million Form 990 tax documents in 2024, but only 5 percent faced audits. Cases that are flagged for review, such as those involving executive compensation over $500,000, yield roughly $2.1 billion in annual recoveries.
A 2025 Treasury Department report found that 20 percent of audited megachurches with attendance exceeding 2,000 had compliance issues. Most were resolved through amended returns, but cases escalated to criminal charges when obstruction occurred.
How Ministries Can Avoid Scrutiny
Tax professionals advise pastors and ministry leaders to immediately audit the flow of funds between personal and church accounts. All income, including “love offerings” and tithes used for personal expenses, must be documented and reported.
Ministries should avoid self-prepared amended returns, as the IRS flags income reductions exceeding 20 percent. Independent certified public accountants should handle all filings, and boards should implement oversight for compensation packages exceeding $100,000.
Housing allowances must be segregated through formal church resolutions and documented properly to withstand IRS scrutiny. When clients provide employment documents, tax preparers should verify authenticity through payroll records. Carn’s accountant potentially faced legal exposure for accepting the backdated agreement without verification.
Church members and donors can review ministry tax filings on platforms like GuideStar to check for executive pay red flags. Only about 10 percent of megachurches carry accreditation from the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. Suspicious activity can be reported anonymously to the IRS via Form 3949-A.
What Happens Next
Carn’s sentencing will determine the actual prison term and restitution amount. Federal guidelines suggest he could face the full three-year maximum given the loss amount, though roughly 70 percent of similar cases result in probation when full restitution is paid before sentencing.
Kingdom City Church’s website indicates services are not currently being held in Jacksonville due to upcoming construction. The church has operated in the city since 2016.
The case underscores federal authorities’ willingness to pursue tax crimes regardless of the defendant’s public profile or religious position. IRS Criminal Investigation Acting Chief Guy Ficco said in a statement related to a parallel Florida case that the agency recovered over $500 million last year from obstruction cases alone.
Sources
Internal Revenue Service
U.S. Attorney’s Office, Middle District of Florida
U.S. Department of the Treasury