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Yeah that's kind of what I was thinking. I have a friend who managed to save a ton of the housing portion of her student loan in university by living off of Kraft Dinner and salad and spent the money on a trip to New York and somehow the CRA found out about it. She somehow managed to convince them she was legit and then was brilliant enough to do it again the next year and go to Mexico, only to end up audited again.
How exactly would the CRA find out about some of these more obscure things besides being tipped off by an acquaintance? What kind of access do they have to different paper trails (bank balances, cc purchases etc) besides the $10k bank deposit report unless they are specifically looking at someone?
More than 90% of reviews are the result of tips from neighbours and other parties that know you. Most of the rest is referred to them from law enforcement, when they have looked at someone and decided to pass on a tip.
The CRA does not have access to you bank or cc records without already being tipped off about you and going through the trouble of getting judicial permission.
What they have access to are things like border records, FINTRAC filings, liens, mortgages, titles on real estate, press about you and other public records.
You are most likely to come to their attention (if they aren't tipped off) by claiming unusual amounts or types of deductions on your tax return or declaring you are involved in an unusual business or occupation.
Filing a large number for capital gains when you never report income might do it, as will saying you are involved in any activity that deals with cash mostly, or saying yes when they ask if you have more than 10k offshore when you have never reported much income.
Much like poker, if there are inconsistencies in your story, they might look at you.