Former Pastor Receives Prison Term for Tax Fraud

The former pastor of The Love Temple Church in West Haven was sentenced to 18 months in prison for assisting in the preparation of filing false tax returns.

Willie E. McKay, 41, of New Haven was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay a $3,000 fine, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release.

McKay was the pastor of The Love Temple Church, located at 75 Fresh Meadow Road in West Haven, from as early as 2005 through 2008, according to court documents and statements made in court.

During that time, McKay provided people, including those in his congregation, with income tax preparation services.

In February 2007, McKay prepared and electronically filed a fraudulent individual U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, Form 1040, for 2006 of a taxpayer who was a member of his congregation.

The tax return listed the address of Love Temple Church as the taxpayer’s home address, which was not accurate, and included a fictitious Form W-2 reflecting inflated wages and withholdings, according to the press release.

The return also reflected fictitious deductions for state and personal property taxes, which reduced the taxpayer’s taxable income.

The fraudulent tax return that McKay prepared reported wages of $47,900 from the State of Connecticut, withholdings of $14,952, and Schedule A deductions for state taxes of $4,359 and personal property tax of $852.

Based on the false claim, the IRS issued a refund check in the amount of $9,693.

McKay knew that the taxpayer was a student working at school and was not entitled to the claimed refund, according to the release. McKay also didn’t identify himself as the preparer of the tax return.

According to the IRS, the taxpayer was entitled to a federal tax refund of only $363.

McKay was ordered to pay $9,693 in restitution to the IRS.

On April 3, 2015, McKay, pleaded guilty to one count of making a false claim to the Internal Revenue Service. In pleading guilty, McKay admitted that he prepared and filed other false tax returns for the 2005 through 2007 tax years.

McKay’s criminal history includes multiple state larceny convictions, and a federal wire fraud conviction for which he received 10-month prison term in May 2000.

McKay, who is released on bond, was ordered to report to prison on March 31.