My ex and I separated in 2019. Under the separate maintenance agreement & decree, she receives both alimony and also half of my civil service government pension (as an equitable division of property). I pay the alimony to her directly, and since our decree was issued after 2018, it is not deductible. A court order was prepared (like a QDRO) to split the federal pension, so that she'll be paid her half directly by the government and get her own 1099-R. The agreement & decree provided that "Until the QDRO is fully executed with the Pension benefit being received by Wife through the QDRO, Husband shall transfer to Wife $2,100 each month." This $2,100 was an estimate of what her half of the pension would be, which was calculated under a complicated formula. The federal government took 6 months to process the QDRO! I directly paid the ex half of my pension for six (6) months until the QDRO finally processed (Jan - June). My 1099-R from the government has been issued, and shows 3/4 of my original pension entitlement (so, hers will be for 1/4, even though she got half!). In other words, OPM prepared the 1099-R to reflect only the payments to my ex that they sent her directly, without any provision for the payments I made to her before the QDRO was processed. What about the six (6) months I paid directly to the ex for Jan thru June? Can I deduct those payments to her? If so, how do I reflect them on my tax forms? Also, can I give her a 1099 for the half of my pension I paid directly to her those six (6) months? What type of 1099? It seems crazy that I should have to pay the tax on 6 months of her pension income just because they were slow to process the QDRO and I had to pay her directly.
