Can CRA come after me personally under section 160 if my corporation owes back taxes?

Yes. If your corporation owes CRA back taxes and, while that debt exists, transfers property or pays you an amount worth more than what you gave the corporation in return, with you as a shareholder being someone the corporation doesn't deal with at arm's length, CRA can assess you personally under section 160 for the corporation's unpaid tax debt, up to the value of that shortfall. This is one of the more direct ways a corporation's tax problems can become a shareholder's personal problem.

This risk exists regardless of whether you knew the corporation owed back taxes at the time of the transfer, section 160 doesn't require knowledge or intent, only the objective facts of an under-value transfer between non-arm's-length parties while a tax debt existed. Shareholders sometimes assume that because the corporation is a separate legal entity, its tax debts stay with the corporation; section 160 is exactly the exception that can pierce that separation in these circumstances.

Before receiving any property or payment from your corporation for less than full value, particularly if the corporation's tax filings or payments have fallen behind, confirming there's no outstanding tax debt, or ensuring the transfer reflects genuine fair market value, protects you from this kind of personal exposure.