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.
**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**
