In this article, which is divided into two parts, the author addresses the jurisprudential and policy developments that took place in 2019 in the area of VAT on insurance and financial services. Part 1 of this article provides some background and offers a detailed review of the 2019 case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union. Part 2 of this article (published in the next issue of this journal) reviews the pending cases and discusses recent policy developments that might play a role in the (expected) reform of the EU VAT framework for insurance and financial services.