Bona fide computational error defeats concealment penalty when the taxpayer corrects the return promptly and shows no intent to evade tax.

Penalty for concealment was not exigible where the assessee's capital gains computation error stemmed from a bona fide bookkeeping mistake and was corrected at the first opportunity. The Tribunal accepted that dividend entries were wrongly posted by staff in a large volume of transactions, that the assessee furnished the relevant details during assessment, and that the revised computation was promptly filed once the discrepancy was noticed. The finding of no intention to evade tax was treated as a plausible appreciation of evidence, and the deletion of penalty was upheld.

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Issues: Whether penalty under Section 271(1)(c) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 was exigible for the assessee's erroneous computation of capital gains, or whether the error was a bona fide inadvertent mistake warranting deletion of penalty.

Analysis: The assessee had, upon being called upon during assessment, furnished the relevant dividend details and promptly revised the computation of income to include the disallowance under Section 94(7) of the Income-tax Act, 1961. The Tribunal accepted the factual explanation that the mismatch arose from a wrong posting of dividend entries by the bookkeeping staff in the course of voluminous transactions, and that the revised return was filed at the first opportunity after the error came to light. On the record, the finding that there was no intention to evade tax and that the lapse was a reasonable human error was treated as a plausible appreciation of evidence and not shown to be perverse.

Conclusion: Penalty was not leviable, and the deletion of penalty was upheld in favour of the assessee.

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