Bona fide belief for delayed return filing was treated as a factual issue, leaving no referable question of law.

Where the fact-finding authorities accepted the assessee's explanation that tax had been deducted at source and advance tax paid, so it bona fide believed filing the return was unnecessary, deletion of penalty for delayed filing was sustained under section 271(1)(a). The Court treated the acceptance of bona fide belief and reasonable cause as a factual determination, and held that the Revenue's reliance on absence of mens rea did not show any legal error. As the concurrent findings disclosed no question of law, no referable question arose under section 256(2) and the reference application was rejected.

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Issues: Whether the Tribunal committed an error of law in upholding deletion of penalty under section 271(1)(a) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, for delayed filing of return where the assessee's explanation of bona fide belief and reasonable cause had been accepted by the fact-finding authorities, and whether any referable question of law arose under section 256(2).

Analysis: The assessee's explanation was that tax had already been deducted at source and advance tax paid, so it bona fide believed that filing of the return was unnecessary. The first appellate authority and the Tribunal accepted this explanation and treated the delay as sufficiently explained. The Court held that the Revenue's reliance on the absence of mens rea did not advance its case, because the penalty was not deleted on that footing. The acceptance or rejection of the assessee's explanation was essentially a factual determination, and the concurrent findings did not disclose any error of law.

Conclusion: No referable question of law arose. The Tribunal's view that it was not a fit case for penalty was upheld, and the application under section 256(2) was rejected.

Final Conclusion: Concurrent factual findings accepting the assessee's explanation for delayed filing sustained the deletion of penalty and left no question of law for reference.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the fact-finding authorities accept the assessee's explanation for delayed filing as a bona fide and reasonable cause, the issue remains one of fact and does not give rise to a referable question of law under section 256(2).

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