Excise dept queries Yuvraj, 4 other KXIP mates

After a notice to owners of Kings XI Punjab on payment of service tax, the central excise department here has asked its five players, including Yuvraj Singh, to furnish details of the payment received from the IPL franchise.

"We have sought details from players to furnish details regarding the payment they have received from the franchise," a senior official of Central Excise department, who did not wish to be named, told PTI here today.

The Central Excise Department had earlier slapped a show cause notice on KPH Dreams, which owns Kings XI Punjab, seeking payment of service tax to the tune of Rs. 5.38 crore for the first season of IPL.

"We wanted to know how much money the players have received for playing games and how much money they received for sponsorships so as to calculate the service tax," the official said.
          
Apart from Yuvraj, the department has sought information from Uday Kaul, Sunny Sohal, VRV Singh and Rishi Dhawan playing for Kings XI Punjab "as their addresses fall under the jurisdiction of Central Excise Department, Chandigarh".
          
The information has been sought under Section 14 of Central Excise Act calling for information pertaining to service tax matters.
          
The department has demanded copy of agreements signed by players with their franchise owner, total payment received from franchise owner, service tax registration number if obtained by them, details of service tax if paid, copies of service tax returns if filed and complete books of accounts and balance sheet,sources said.
          
Apart from this, the department has also raised a demand of Rs. 2.54 crore as service tax to be paid by sponsoring companies under the category of "sponsorship services" for Kings XI Punjab.
          
Out of Rs. 5.38 crore, the department had raised a demand of Rs. 3.89 crore as service tax for payment KPH Dreams received from BCCI-IPL in the shape of share of revenue, prize money and share of official beverages.
          
The department had asked the franchise to pay Rs 9.17 lakh as service tax on Rs. 74.24 lakh worth of services provided by overseas companies under reverse charge basis.
   
Service tax demand of Rs 1.02 crore was raised on the services provided by overseas players and another Rs. 37.55 lakh was demanded on the payment of ticket sales classified under exempted services.