Investigators looking into whether the unnamed 53-year-old was dodging tax payments opened her garage door in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, to see it piled high with one, two, 10, 20 and 50 cent coins, the Express reported on Thursday.

The woman has been charged with 12 counts of tax evasion.

Adding up to over €40,000 and weighing 1.4 tonnes, the money was reportedly tips gathered by her 60-strong team of toilet attendants.

Despite guests tending to drop mere cents as a thank you, employees allegedly had to pay their toilet-baron boss €50 per day from their tips. Investigators heard how she would cruise across the country in a Mercedes collecting it, leaving loos with buckets full of change.

The find at her house was just a fraction of her earnings, according to prosecutors. They found that between 2005 and 2010 she should have paid €550,000 in income and VAT, for which she could face a year in prison for avoiding, as well as a fine.

According to the Express, the woman would put the coins through a machine at home which sorted them into rolls for the bank. This was until it broke, leaving her with ever-growing piles of change.

Life looked rosy for the business woman, who had bought herself an expensive house with the cleaning-company cash. However, the bubble burst when she had an argument with an employee.

The pair started fighting in a toilet, prompting onlookers to call the police. When officers arrived alarm bells rang about how her attendant-empire, which had been running since 2004, functioned. A full investigation followed, which led prosecutors to the woman’s house.

The Local/jcw