Toilet Tax Evasion Case Amuses Germans

A 49-year-old woman went on trial in the German city of Cottbus on Thursday, accused of withholding around €1.2 million (around $1.2 million) in taxes from revenues at toilets in places like highway service stations and restaurants, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported.

Photo Insert: The defendant is accused of concealing voluntary contribution toilet income from the state in eight separate instances between 2005 and 2008, while running a cleaning company maintaining a network of restrooms.

Some toilets at such facilities have voluntary contribution plates where users can put loose change. The defendant is accused of concealing this income from the state in eight separate instances between 2005 and 2008, while running a cleaning company maintaining a network of restrooms.

The defendant did not speak about the tax evasion charges against her on the opening day of the trial. The fact that the investigation took some 15 years to reach a courtroom also puts additional onus on the prosecution.

Only tax evasion cases of "particular seriousness" — defined as a minimum of €50,000 in unpaid tax — do not expire under a 10-year statute of limitations in Germany. Prosecutors believe they can identify eight instances in total that still qualify.

The case is complicated on several levels. Demonstrating how much money was paid is extremely difficult, seeing as there's no fixed price for relieved customers dropping in a few coins on exit. The judge said daily revenues could vary from €30 to €500 from site to site.

"You have to try to approach the result that's the most likely, as close to reality as is possible," chief prosecutor Elvira Klein told the dpa news agency. The judge said on Thursday that the prosecution's stated figure of €1.2 million seemed on the high side, offering a counter-estimate of around €600,000.

The fact that the investigation took some 15 years to reach a courtroom also puts additional onus on the prosecution. Only tax evasion cases of "particular seriousness" — defined as a minimum of €50,000 in unpaid tax — do not expire under a 10-year statute of limitations in Germany.

Prosecutors believe they can identify eight instances in total that still qualify, the Agence France-Presse (AFP) also reported. And Thursday's first witness tried to argue that the person who should really be facing the charges was no longer alive.

Another question the court will grapple with in part of the case is jurisdiction: four of the 78 sanitary facilities maintained by the company are in Austria not Germany, and the criminal chamber said it considered it questionable whether German law applied to revenues from these.

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