Reasonable cause under the Income-tax Act defeated penalty where the Tribunal followed its earlier finding in the assessee's own case.

Penalty under section 272A(2)(g) was found unwarranted where reasonable cause under section 273B was established. The Tribunal followed its earlier order in the assessee's own case on similar facts and accepted that the failure was supported by reasonable cause, leaving no basis to interfere with the appellate order deleting the penalty. It also noted that the defaults related to different periods, but treated the earlier finding on reasonable cause as governing the merits. The Revenue's appeal was dismissed.

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Issues: Whether penalty under section 272A(2)(g) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 was justified in view of reasonable cause under section 273B of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Analysis: The Tribunal followed the earlier order in the assessee's own case on similar facts and held that section 273B applied. It accepted that reasonable cause existed for the failure and found no basis to interfere with the appellate order deleting the penalty. The Tribunal also noted that the impugned defaults related to different periods, so the appeal was not identical, but the merits were governed by the earlier finding on reasonable cause.

Conclusion: Penalty under section 272A(2)(g) was held to be not justified, and the Revenue's appeal was dismissed.

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