As government turns the heat on black money, number of returns filed jumps substantially The number of people who filed tax returns surged by 95 lakh as the government turned the heat on black money with demonetisation and various other measures, two top government officials told ET. The figure was in a presentation made before Prime Minister Narendra Modi as part of the revenue department's review on Tuesday . “There has been an addition of about 95 lakh new taxpayers,“ said one of the officials aware of the details of the presentation. The government has been looking to widen the tax net as barely a little over 1% of the population is said to pay income tax. As many as 5.28 crore returns were e-filed in FY16, a rise of 22% over the previous year. Some returns were filed in paper mode as well. The income-tax department had launched a crackdown against tax evaders as part of its war against black money . It identified 18 lakh persons who had made bank depo Rs 1,000 and 500