The income tax department has brought nearly 12 lakh additional taxpayers into the tax net, helped in large part by a special intelligence tool it had started using a few years ago to track high-spending individuals who were not filing returns.

For the assessment year (AY) 2014-15, at least 11.77 lakh people filed returns after the I-T department served notices after coming to know of their taxable income. To identify such defaulters, the department tracks data of bank statements, property purchases, shares and equity transactions, credit card expenditure and foreign travels.

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The cases of the 11.77 lakh taxpayers who filed returns for AY 2014-15 have been closed after their information was sent to regional I-T officials and assessing officers to keep track of their records in future.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes, the administrative authority which controls the I-T department, had last month notified fresh amendments making it mandatory to quote PAN for cash transactions at hotels or on foreign travel exceeding Rs 50,000, purchase of jewellery worth over Rs 2 lakh and property transactions of Rs 10 lakh and above. Any false declaration of PAN can now land an individual or a company executive in prison for up to seven years with a fine.