Lawyers for top Paterson administration aide Charles O’Byrne claimed Wednesday he failed to pay taxes for five years because he has “non-filer syndrome.”

“These are very high-functioning people who otherwise can complete all of the ordinary tasks in their lives,” O’Byrne lawyer Richard Kestenbaum insisted.

“But there is something that they can’t do, and many times that causes them not to be able to file their tax returns.”

Not even Paterson, who has staunchly defended O’Byrne, was buying it.

Asked later in Brooklyn if he believes in “non-filer syndrome,” Paterson responded, “No.”

“He showed poor judgment,” the governor said of his $178,000-a-year secretary.

Still, Paterson said O’Byrne “merits forgiveness” since he doesn’t have a history of not filing taxes and was suffering from a “major depressive disorder.”

While some news stories in recent years have been written on “late-filing syndrome,” many tax experts say they never heard of it.

“Wow,” IRS spokesman Kevin McKeon said before offering no comment.

Alex Raskolnikov, a Columbia Law School professor who specializes in tax law, said that while the IRS can take mental illness into account when assessing penalties, he’s never heard of “non-filer syndrome.”

Rhondalee Dean-Royce, a spokeswoman for the American Psychiatric Association, said no such disorder or syndrome is listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a standard reference.

Kestenbaum and another O’Byrne lawyer, Henry Berger, released documents Wednesday that said O’Byrne did not file returns for tax years 2001 through 2005.

O’Byrne’s federal and state tax liability, including late fees and interest, was about $300,000 - about $100,000 more than previously revealed.

Paterson and his aides have claimed for days that O’Byrne, a former Jesuit priest, had paid off the entire debt, but the records showed O’Byrne cut one last check to the state on Tuesday for $3,641.85.

O’Byrne’s lawyers said the check was written because a previous one in the same amount never cleared. They provided no proof.

The Daily News has reported that O’Byrne was able to pay off his debts with help from the Kennedy family, a law school buddy and his two sisters.

O’Byrne’s two sisters each gave him between $5,000 and $20,000. Jean Kennedy Smith and Brian Krisberg each loaned him between $60,000 and $100,000.

His lawyers said O’Byrne agreed to repay the loans with interest, though they couldn’t say the percentage. They also said there is no payback schedule.

O’Byrne, they said, first alerted Paterson of his fight with depression and his tax problems in 2004 when he was hired for a job in the state Senate. At the time Paterson was minority leader.

Still, he didn’t notify the IRS or the state Tax Department until 2006. He filed the bulk of his returns just days before Paterson became lieutenant governor.

Berger said O’Byrne waited until all the needed documents were assembled, which “is quite complicated.”

Despite first telling Paterson in 2004 of his tax problems, O’Byrne went another two years without filing.

Source: NY Daily News