Tax Defense, Raised in Case of NY Official: ‘Non-Filer Syndrome’
The lawyer for the top aide to New York Gov. David Patterson says his client didn’t file tax returns because he suffered from “non-filer syndrome.”
Lawyer Richard Kestenbaum said at a Manhattan news conference that his client, Charles O’Byrne, couldn’t bring himself to file taxes because of the syndrome, report the New York Times, the New York Post and the New York Daily News.
“These are very high-functioning people who otherwise can complete all of the ordinary tasks in their lives,” Kestenbaum said. “But there is something that they can’t do, and many times that causes them not to be able to file their tax returns.”
O’Byrne was suffering from depression when he failed to file income tax returns from 2001 to 2005, the stories say. He owed about $300,000, including penalties and interest, and paid the money on Tuesday.
Columbia Law School professor Alex Raskolnikov was among the experts who told the publications they have never heard of the syndrome.
One accountant joked that the syndrome is “quite common.”
“A hundred percent of my clients suffer from this syndrome, and it gets especially bad every year as April 15 approaches,” he told the Post.
TaxProf Blog posted the news and a summary (PDF) of the late-paid taxes.
