Brian McKnight Refutes Report That He’s in Trouble With the IRS: ‘Everything Is Fine’

Singer Brian McKnight says he’s just fine, thank you very much.

TMZ reported Tuesday that the artist behind such songs as “Anytime” and “Back at One” had failed to pay his tax bill and that the IRS has filed documents to take $340,000 McKnight owes out of his Southern California home. He even stopped paying on an installment plan, according to the website.

McKnight, 46, told a much different story about the situation during an interview with The Insider With Yahoo given the same day. McKnight was promoting a new album, Better, that he’s releasing on Friday.

“You know what’s funny is that this was two years ago, and the only reason people knew about this was because I was suing my business manager at the time, so there had to be some paperwork that made that happen,” he explained. “So when I won that lawsuit and I took care of all that … what I don’t understand is how this has resurfaced today. Because I was as surprised as everyone else.”

He continued, “So I called [to follow up] and people are like, ‘No, everything is fine.’ It’s like, ‘OK, [was someone] purposely trying to sabotage my release, or trying to help my release by putting my name out there more?’ So everything is fine.“

McKnight’s actual money problems began with his former accountant who left McKnight’s taxes unpaid for years and was eventually sued by the star.

Following the new report, McKnight said he heard from plenty of folks willing to lend him a helping hand. “I’m getting texts like, ‘Man, you need a place to stay?’ And it’s like, ‘Uh, no,’” he said.