My husband retired last year and has a pension. He had taxes taken out of his monthly pension check. I am still employed. I am noticing that when adding his 1099-R he is taxed at a very high rate. Why is this? What is the rule about married filing jointly that requires his pension to be taxed at such a high rate? Should we file separately or will this trigger an audit given that we have been married for 30+ years and have always filed jontly? What do married couples do when this happens?
No one can see your return so we do not know what you mean when you say his pension is being taxed at a "very high rate"---we do not know what you are looking at. First....did you enter his 1099R in the right place?
To enter your retirement income, Go to Federal> Wages and Income>Retirement Plans and Social Security>IRA 401 k) Pension Plan Withdrawals to enter your 1099R.
Look at your Form 1040---you should see the pension income on lines 5a and 5b----5b shows how much of the pension is taxable on your federal return. Did you look at that and think that was how much tax you had to pay?
It is almost always better to file a joint return.