Gross Distribution (CSA 1099-R Box 1) is your total annuity BEFORE what the NOTE says was paid to your Ex under court ordered apportionment. What you state as your "Employee contributions", is that from Box 5 or Box 9b? Box 9b is your TOTAL Employee Contributions...what you paid into your retirement over the course of your government employment. You have already paid taxes on this amount. But OPM does not let you claim it (i.e. "recover it tax free") all at once. You have to distribute it over the course of your annuity. This depends on your age at your time of retirement. You calculate this using the Simplified Method (see Worksheet A in the IRS's Publication 721 -"Tax Guide to U.S. Civil Service Retirement Benefits"). Once you determine the amount to be "recovered" (the amount of the year's annuity that is not taxable) using the worksheet, and once you start deducting this non-taxable amount, you need to keep track of the amount you recover over the years. That is because, in total, you cannot end up deducting more than you paid into the annuity (which is what is shown in Box 9b of your 1099-R.
