Reasonable cause for late return filing accepted where partnership share income was unavailable until firm returns were filed.

Delay in filing a return under section 271(1)(a) was considered justified where the assessee's share income from partnership firms was not available until those firms filed their returns. The note states that the assessee filed her return soon after the firms reported their income, showing a genuine inability to file earlier because the relevant share income was unavailable. On that basis, reasonable cause was accepted for the year in question, and earlier belated filing conduct was treated as not decisive. The penalty was therefore held unsustainable.

---

---

Issues: Whether penalty imposed for delay in filing the return under section 271(1)(a) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 was justified when the assessee's share income from partnership firms was not available until the firms filed their returns.

Analysis: The delay was examined in the light of the circumstances of the relevant assessment year. The assessee had filed the return soon after the partnership firms, in which she was a partner, filed their returns. On these facts, the delay was treated as arising from a genuine inability to file earlier because the share income was not available. The past conduct of belated filing was held not to be decisive for the year in question where a reasonable cause was established.

Conclusion: The penalty was not sustainable and the assessee succeeded.

---