CRA audits are now generally selected by CRA’s Business Intelligence Units. Selection for audit usually means that CRA has already identified the taxpayer as being at higher risk of non-compliance. For example, this could mean that your business falls within a CRA target area, or, perhaps, that you are claiming a credit in which CRA has historically found high levels of non-compliance. At a recent forum, CRA indicated that since the implementation of their focus on higher risk taxpayers, 33% of audits have discovered unreported income.
Action Item – Keep well-organized records. In many situations, expenses may be denied if a proper trail cannot be demonstrated. This is especially true if you are operating in an industry of high interest to CRA.