Rafael is a partner at the Madrid office of Garrigues. He joined the firm in 1998 and is currently a member of the international tax group and head of EU taxation.
He specializes in advising multinational, Spanish and foreign groups on investments, financing and restructuring from an international perspective. He has also advised and represented multinational companies in inspection proceedings before Spanish and foreign tax authorities, as well as in judicial review proceedings conducted before the Spanish courts.
In recent years, he has acted as a lawyer for various Spanish and international companies and institutions in important tax proceedings regarding State aid and the recovery of taxes incorrectly paid over, pursuant to European legislation, as well as in requests for preliminary rulings from the European Court of Justice.
Rafael is currently an associate lecturer in Finance and Tax Law at Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, Madrid. He also regularly lectures and speaks on international and EU taxation at numerous postgraduate courses, seminars and master’s programs of a specialized nature at institutions such as Centro de Estudios Garrigues, ESADE, Instituto de Estudios Fiscales, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha and Instituto de Estudios Bursátiles. Furthermore, he has taught at various seminars and international forums, especially in the area of European taxation.
Rafael is a member of the Madrid Bar Association, of the Executive Committee of the Spanish Branch of IFA and represents Garrigues on the EU Committee of the Spanish Employers’ Confederation.
Rafael has a law degree from Universidad Complutense de Madrid, a master’s degree in legal practice from Centro de Estudios Superiores San Pablo-CEU and a postgraduate qualification in tax law (D.E.A.) from Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne (France).
Among other collaborative works, Rafael is the author of chapter V (Nonresident income tax – tax treaties) in the collective work “Introduction to the Spanish Tax System” (Sistema Tributario Españo) (Aranzadi); chapter 35 (International Fiscal transparency (La transparencia fiscal internacional)) in the collective work “Corporate Income Tax” (El Impuesto sobre Sociedades) (2nd Edition, Civitas-Thomson Reuters); and the chapters on EU directives on direct taxation and state aid in the International Taxation volume (Tax treaties, nonresident income tax and State aids (Convenios de doble imposición, Impuesto sobre la renta de no residentes y Ayudas de Estado)) of “Taxation Practice” (Fiscalidad Práctica), Civitas.
Rafael is also the Spanish correspondent of European Taxation and regularly contributes to various Spanish and international publications on international and EU taxation (European Taxation, International Tax Review, Director of Finance, Quincena Fiscal, etc.)
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