Yuvraj did not evade service tax: mother

India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh's mother Shabnam on Friday sought to clear the air on reports that the her son owes a whopping 96.43 lakh in service tax on his income from the first and second Indian Premier League season.

Denying reports that Yuvraj concealed his IPL income from the Income Tax department, Shabnam said the King's XI Punjab batsman was paid only for playing and not promotional activity.

"The fact is that during the IPL, Yuvraj's agreement with M/s KPH Dream Cricket Pvt Ltd. entitled him to a certain sum which was paid to him only for his services of playing for the team. Therefore, there is no breakup of earnings as mentioned in the news report," she said in a statement.

Shabnam said Yuvraj's tax consultants Raman Aggarwal and Associates, through a letter to the Superintendent, Office of the Commissioner of Central Excise and Service Tax, Chandigarh, has already clarified the matter.

Quoting from the letter, Shabnam said, "It is respectfully submitted that the consideration received by the assessee (Yuvraj Singh) is only for playing cricket and the assessee is not indulging in any kind of promotional activities... the promotional activities has to be taken by the Franchisee (Kings XI Punjab) and the assessee is not even allowed to do any promotional activity individually.

"I'd reiterate that all Yuvraj received from the franchisee was the sum for playing cricket for Kings XI Punjab and there were no individual promotional activities or income thereof."