Rafael Sayagués > EY Law Central America > San Jose, Costa Rica > Lawyer Profile
EY Law Central America Offices
EPIC Corporate Center, 5 floor
San Rafael, Escazú
San José
Costa Rica
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Rafael Sayagués
Position
Managing Partner Tax&Law EY Central America, Panama & Dominican Republic
Career
Rafael is one of the founders of the EY member firm in Central America, Panama & Dominican Republic (2002). He is the Managing Partner of the Central America, Panama & Dominican Republic practices. And until 2022 he was the Managing Partner of the Latam North region Tax and Law practices. He is also part of the Latin American Business Center (LABC) group in New York and the Strategy & Transactions (SaT) team.
His experience includes local and international tax planning, corporate restructuring and reorganizations, cross-border transactions design and implementation, overall mergers and acquisitions advisory (M&A), financing and investment structures, transfer pricing and supply chain planning, tax controversy, shared services’ centers design and taxation, cross-border taxation in the region, expatriate taxation, project financing, and international trade, free trade zones and tax incentive systems.
He is a member of the Family Business group that specializes in advisory services to family offices and organizations in areas such as corporate structuring, cross border planning, estate planning, asset protection, private equity, international tax compliance and reporting, corporate governance and structuring.
He contributes to various international tax publications such as International Tax Review and Chambers. From 2011 to 2018, he was ranked as a leading Band 1 lawyer in Corporate / Tax and since 2019 to 2024 he has been ranked as an Eminent Practitioner by Chambers Latin American Guide. In 2024 he was also ranked by Legal 500 as a “Leading Partner” and as “Highly Regarded” by International Tax Review.
Languages
Spanish/English
Memberships
He is a member of the International Bar Association (IBA), International Fiscal Association (IFA), the American Bar Association (ABA), New York State Bar Association and the Costa Rican Bar Association. He is the Coordinator of the Tax Commission of the National Chamber of Business Associations (Unión Costarricense de Cámaras y Asociaciones de Empresas del Sector Privado (UCCAEP) and a member of the Board of Directors of the Costa Rica Free Trade Zones Association (Asociación de Zonas Francas de Costa Rica (AZOFRAS) and a member of the Americas Free Trade Zones Association (Asociación de Zonas Francas de las Américas (AZFA). He is also a member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), Costa Rica Chapter and Euro-Latam Chapter.
Education
He has an LLM in Tax from the University of Florida and a JD and undergraduate degrees from the Universidad de Costa Rica.
Lawyer Rankings
Costa Rica > Tax
(Leading individuals)The tax group at EY Law Central America leverages the bench strength of eight offices in seven countries (including the March 2022 opening of a Pacific Coast office in the Guanacaste province) to provide a comprehensive range of services to national and multinational corporates involved in high-value, cross-border transactions. Assisting with transfer pricing, business tax, international tax, tax policy and controversy, transaction tax and tax compliance reporting, the firm’s active client base spans the pharmaceuticals, beverages, logistics and apparel sectors. Rafael Sayagués, who is managing partner of the tax and legal practices in Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic, brings expertise to such matters as corporate restructuring and reorganisations, the design and implementation of cross-border transactions and tax incentive systems. Other key figures include Juan Carlos Chavarría, who has over 25 years’ experience in the practice area, advising clients on transfer pricing, tax modelling and international trade and tax incentive systems; Antonio Ruiz Rojas, who leads the transactional tax and tax controversy practice in Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic, specialising in the tax due diligence aspects of cross-border deals; and indirect tax, customs and global trade director Carolina Palma, who manages matters relating to free trade zone structuring and compliance.
Guatemala > Tax
Praised by clients for its ‘experience in all tax and customs issues‘, EY Law Central America leverages its regional and global networks to advise an array of multinational clients on tax matters throughout Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic. The team is widely recognised for its strengths in tax advisory work (particularly assisting with the due diligence and structuring of M&A transactions), compliance and transfer pricing, but also has a rapidly growing tax controversy practice. Guatemala managing partner Manuel Ramírez steers the team and has strong skills in international taxation and transactional tax; he is supported from the Costa Rica office by managing partner for Central America Rafael Sayagués and Randall Oquendo, who leads the tax controversy practice in the region. Experienced senior manager Ana Alfaro and manager Carlos Díaz-Durán are the key names to note for tax litigation.