Lackner Group

What Lackner Group does

The Lackner Group, Inc. is a privately held, founder-led software company incorporated in 1985 and headquartered in Carnegie, Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh metro). The company develops specialized estate and trust administration software for U.S. law firms, accounting firms, and bank trust departments. Its flagship product, the 6-in-1 Estate and Trust Administration System, has been in continuous development since 1986 and operates as a FileMaker-based relational database that consolidates estate, trust, and probate workflows into a single-entry system covering State Death Tax, Accounting, Inventory, State Fiduciary Income Tax, U.S. 706 (estate tax), U.S. 1041 (fiduciary income tax), and U.S. 709 (gift tax) modules.

The product portfolio has been expanded over time to include InheriTax (a cloud-hosted Pennsylvania REV-1500 inheritance tax filing product that was modernized to a multi-user SaaS architecture in 2024), DecoupleCruncher (estate tax calculation software for the 12+ U.S. states decoupled from the federal estate tax), and NumberCruncher (an estate planning calculation engine originally created in 1984 by Leimberg and LeClair whose operations were absorbed by The Lackner Group effective December 1, 2020). The underlying technology stack combines a FileMaker relational database engine (Windows/Mac client with FileMaker Server multi-user and optional cloud-hosted deployments), bundled PDF Factory Pro for print-to-PDF output, and an integration with Estate Valuation Professionals (EVP) for securities valuation feeding the U.S. 706 module.

The company sells primarily through direct enterprise sales (quote-based pricing for 6-in-1 configured by modules and users), e-commerce for smaller products like InheriTax, and demand generation via industry conference presence (Heckerling Institute, NYSBA T&E, PBI, multiple state bar events) and 30-minute GoToMeeting product demos. Pricing follows a perpetual-license-with-annual-renewal model (for example, InheriTax at $1,000 initial plus $590 annual renewal per license), producing a mix of upfront license revenue and recurring maintenance income. The customer base reportedly spans roughly 734 firms with 3,154 installed users on 6-in-1 (2022 release notes) and 3,500 firms with 4,200 users on NumberCruncher; the company remains founder-controlled with no venture or private equity backing and operates at 11-50 employees.

Name

Lackner Group

Legal name

The Lackner Group, Inc.

Website

https://lacknergroup.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1985

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Lackner Group is a privately-held, founder-led software company founded in 1985 that develops estate and trust administration software for U.S. law firms, accounting firms, and bank trust departments, anchored by its flagship 6-in-1 platform in continuous development since 1986.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Estate Administration Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132)

akta.pro primary industry

Tax & Financial Document Preparation Organization (Non-Advisory) (HSAFAEAG)

Keywords

• Estate administration software
• Trust accounting software
• Fiduciary tax preparation
• Estate planning tools
• Inheritance tax software

Headquarters

HQ city

Pittsburgh

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Software Licenses: Perpetual software licenses with annual maintenance/renewal fees. Pricing based on number of modules and users. One-time purchase with ongoing support subscription.
2. Annual Software Renewals: Annual term renewals for software support and updates. InheriTax renews at $590 per license per year after initial $1,000 purchase.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The Lackner Group develops and sells relational database software for estate and trust administration, with its flagship 6-in-1 system collecting and tracking estate data since 1986 to prepare accounting and tax documents from a single data entry. Supporting products include InheriTax for Pennsylvania inheritance tax processing, DecoupleCruncher for estate tax calculations in decoupled states, and NumberCruncher for estate planning computations. The software serves law firms, accounting firms, and banks throughout the United States handling federal and state estate tax, fiduciary income tax, and court accountings.

Product overview

The Lackner Group offers a suite of estate and trust administration software products built around its flagship 6-in-1 platform. The 6-in-1 system serves as the core product—a relational database one-write system that has been meeting the challenge of estate and trust data administration since 1986. It integrates seven modules covering State Death Tax, Accounting, Inventory, State Fiduciary Income Tax, U.S. 706, U.S. 1041, and U.S. 709. Supporting products include InheriTax for Pennsylvania-specific inheritance tax processing (cloud-hosted with multi-user support), DecoupleCruncher for estate tax calculations in states decoupled from the federal system, and NumberCruncher for broader estate planning calculations. The product portfolio is designed for law firms, accounting firms, and banks throughout the United States.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• 6-in-1: Flagship estate and trust administration software system - a One-Write System for collecting and tracking estate and trust administration information.
• InheriTax
• DecoupleCruncher
• NumberCruncher

Products and services

• 6-in-1 Estate and Trust Administration Software Flagship relational database software for estate and trust administration that collects and tracks estate data and prepares accounting and tax documents from a single data entry. Includes seven modules covering State Death Tax, Accounting, Inventory, State Fiduciary Income Tax, U.S. 706, U.S. 1041, and U.S. 709. Designed for law firms, accounting firms, and banks practicing estate planning, probate, and trust administration.
• InheriTax PA REV-1500 Software Cloud-hosted Pennsylvania inheritance tax software for completing the PA REV-1500 and handling probate work. Features simultaneous multi-user access, automatic updates, and 4x daily data backup, and creates up to nine supplemental returns per estate with single-entry data entry. Includes PA Inventory and Register of Wills forms for Pennsylvania-based estate administration.
• DecoupleCruncher Estate tax calculation software for decoupled states that computes hundreds of interrelated calculations in seconds. Supports up to four states simultaneously with multi-state calculations including maximum credit for state death taxes. Designed for estate professionals handling estates in states decoupled from the federal estate tax system.
• NumberCruncher Estate Planning Tool Estate planning decision-maker and electronic survival tool providing 100+ estate planning and financial planning calculations. Designed for life settlement professionals, life insurance agents, attorneys, CPAs, financial planners, and trust officers. Performs calculations in seconds with a 30-day money-back guarantee, and includes modules for Section 199A Qualified Business Income Deduction analysis.

Quantifiable outcome

• Reduces time to prepare estates
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature4 records

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Wealth.com: Wealth.com is an estate planning software platform serving financial advisors and wealth management firms with digital planning tools. It directly competes with Lackner Group's NumberCruncher estate planning decision-maker by targeting the same advisor and planner persona with modern, cloud-based estate planning workflows.
• Estateably: Estateably is a modern estate administration software platform for law firms and trust companies. It targets the same primary customer base (estate attorneys and trust administrators) as Lackner Group's 6-in-1, providing digital intake, accounting, and distribution workflows that overlap with Lackner's one-write system.
• Vanilla: Vanilla is an estate planning software platform for financial advisors and estate attorneys. It competes with NumberCruncher's estate planning calculation use cases by offering interactive planning tools, document automation, and beneficiary modeling aimed at the same advisory and legal planning market.
• FP Alpha: FP Alpha is an AI-powered financial and estate planning analytics platform for financial advisors. It competes with Lackner Group's NumberCruncher by automating planning scenarios and tax calculations across estate, retirement, and tax workflows for the same advisor and CPA customer base.

Broad incumbents

• Wolters Kluwer (CCH): Wolters Kluwer provides CCH Axcess and other tax/accounting software platforms used by professional tax and accounting firms. As a broad incumbent, it competes with Lackner Group by offering portfolio-wide tax compliance and estate tools that overlap with 6-in-1's tax form preparation capabilities for accounting firms.
• Thomson Reuters: Thomson Reuters provides UltraTax, GoSystem Tax, and other professional tax software used by accounting firms for fiduciary, estate, and trust tax returns. As a broad incumbent, it overlaps with Lackner Group's fiduciary income tax (Form 1041), estate (Form 706), and gift (Form 709) preparation capabilities for accounting firm customers.
• eMoney Advisor: eMoney Advisor is a financial planning software platform (owned by Fidelity) used by wealth management firms and financial planners for estate, retirement, and tax planning. It competes with Lackner Group's NumberCruncher as part of a broader planning suite covering estate planning calculations for the same financial planner persona.
• Intuit (ProConnect / Lacerte): Intuit provides professional tax software (ProConnect Tax Online, Lacerte, ProSeries) widely used by accounting firms for fiduciary and estate tax returns. As a broad incumbent, it overlaps with Lackner Group's tax form preparation across Form 1041, 706, and 709, particularly for accounting firm customers seeking integrated tax and bookkeeping workflows.

Emerging players

• RightCapital: RightCapital is a cloud financial planning platform focused on financial advisors with estate, retirement, and tax planning modules. As an emerging player, it overlaps with NumberCruncher's estate planning calculation capabilities for the same advisor and CPA customer base through a more modern cloud-native architecture.
• Holistiplan: Holistiplan is a tax planning software platform for financial advisors that uses AI to surface planning opportunities, including estate planning scenarios. As an emerging player, it competes with Lackner Group's NumberCruncher in tax and estate planning calculations for a similar financial advisor persona.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/pub/vince-lackner/12/a9a/b70

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Lackner Group