Andorra’s Finance Minister resigns after admitting that he did not pay corporate tax

The Minister of Finance and spokesperson for the Government of Andorra, Eric Joverhas submitted his irrevocable resignation after it was made public this Monday that he had not filed his company’s corporate tax return (IS) since 2019.

As reported by the Government in a statement, the until now Secretary of State for Digital Transition and Strategic Projects, César Marquina, will assume the functions of Jover on Wednesday as head of the Finance portfolio and also as spokesperson for the Executive.

Jover, even though he is a minister, is also the sole administrator of Representacions Jover SLU, the family business which he took over after his father’s death.

In an appearance before the media this Monday morning, he has admitted the difficulty of “combining” his work as minister with the management of the company and has assured that its business management has not followed the canons to grow the company or for profit.

Thus, he explained that neither in 2021 nor in 2022 were invoices issued to customers and that only suppliers were paid, so the company had losses, for which reason it made financial contributions from its personal assets.

[Fiscalía se opone al intento de Rajoy de frenar que Andorra investigue su rol en la ‘Operación Cataluña’]

The situation led him to “misinterpret” the law, since he considered that, as the company did not bill and had no benefits, “there was no tax problem,” according to reports. Europe Press.

But the Tax Agency contacted him a year ago for these non-payments and opened a file for himwhich has ended with a provisional settlement proposal of about 20,000 euros in total.

irrevocable resignation

After the morning appearance, this Monday afternoon Jover has appeared again, this time accompanied by the Head of Government, Xavier Espot, to announce that he had presented his irrevocable resignation and that Espot had accepted it.

As he has said, has made the decision so that the political project it represents is not called into question and the work carried out by the Government.

[Andorra nos ‘invade’: las 200 hectáreas que disputa con España por un parque solar en espacio protegido]

Espot has appreciated the “absolutely exemplary” performance of the minister when it comes to making a decision that “shows that he is up to the task” in the face of the mistake made by his company’s failure to comply with its tax obligations.

The head of government has also praised Jover’s work as head of Financeas well as when he served as Minister of Education during the previous legislature.

Jover has taken stock of his work at the head of the Ministry of Finance, focused in recent years on the management of the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on the State’s economy. Precisely, highlighted the diversification of the debt carried out this legislaturewith international issues for the first time in Andorra and adhesion to the International Monetary Fund.