— Frequently asked questions
Common questions, answered plainly.
How the calculation is grounded, what the plans cost, uploading documents, the annex PDF, accounts and teams, where client data goes, and how the free calculators relate to the signed-in workbench.
— The calculation
Where does the calculation come from?
Each calculation includes HMRC references and the working behind the result. Filed calculations retain their inputs, results and calculation versions for review; drafts you never file are removed after 90 days.
Is ParaplanAI giving regulated advice?
No. ParaplanAI is a calculation and reporting tool used by the regulated adviser. It produces the figure and the working — recommendation and suitability remain yours.
What about the tax-year change?
Published HMRC changes are reviewed and checked before updates are released. Each calculation shows the tax year and references it uses. Filed calculations retain their original figures and version details.
What if a result does not look right?
Email info@paraplanai.co.uk with the calculation ID from the first page of the annex (or the web address of the saved calculation) and the HMRC guidance you are checking against, such as a PTM or IPTM page. Calculation-error reports take priority on every plan. We aim to reply to calculation questions within two working days. Each report is re-derived against the HMRC rule before we reply, with either a correction or the reference the calculation follows.
What does getting started involve?
Sign in with Google, Microsoft, or an emailed link, then name your firm (an FCA firm reference number is optional). A short walkthrough then shows you where to start, and you can run a calculation with your own figures.
How is this different from a provider calculator?
ParaplanAI is built around the client file. A calculation can be saved to the client’s record with its inputs, results and calculation version; every result shows the working behind it, with the HMRC references it follows; and a saved calculation produces a compliance annex PDF you can file.
— Pricing and billing
How much does ParaplanAI cost?
Free is £0: the public calculators on this site are unlimited and need no account, and a free account includes 3 calculations a month in the signed-in app. Pro is £69 a month for a single user with unlimited calculations. Firm is £99 per user per month — seats are checked when the owner invites someone. Prices are in GBP and no VAT is charged.
Is there a free trial?
Paid plans start with a 14-day free trial, once per firm. A card is required at checkout and nothing is charged if you cancel before day 14; a firm that has already used its trial is billed at checkout. The Free plan needs no card and has no time limit.
Can I pay annually?
Yes. Pro is £690 a year and Firm is £990 per user per year — two months free against the monthly price.
How do seats work on the Firm plan?
The Firm plan is £99 a month per seat (£990 a year on annual billing). Seats are checked when the owner invites someone: the owner, advisers, paraplanners and reviewers all count towards them, and a pending invitation holds one until it is accepted, withdrawn or expires. If the seats are later reduced below the number of members, existing members keep their access and new invitations wait until the seats cover the team. Clients, calculations and the audit trail are shared across the whole team.
Can I cancel?
Yes, at any time. The firm owner cancels from firm settings, through the billing portal. A cancelled subscription runs to the end of the period already paid for and is not renewed, and unused time is not refunded (Terms, section 6).
Can I get a refund?
Cancelling stops the subscription renewing. Your plan runs to the end of the period you have already paid for, and unused time is not refunded (Terms, section 6). If you cancel during the free trial, nothing is charged.
Do the prices include VAT?
ParaplanAI is not VAT-registered, so the headline price is the price charged. No VAT is added at checkout.
— Uploading documents
What documents can I upload?
PDFs up to 15 MiB and up to 60 pages, or JPEG and PNG files up to 3.75 MB. Document reading covers P60s, pension savings statements, DC and DB annual statements, DB scheme statements, CETV statements, crystallisation statements, bond policy documents, chargeable event certificates, SA100 returns and legacy policy schedules. Split a larger document into smaller files, ideally one provider per PDF; each file uses one extraction.
Do I have to check what was read from the document?
Yes. Every extracted value passes through your review before any calculation runs. Values that read cleanly start ticked; anything an automatic check has flagged keeps Accept switched off until you confirm or correct it. Values the document did not show are listed as not on file, for you to fill in if you have them.
What if a document cannot be read?
The upload tells you why. A file that is too large or too long needs splitting; a password-protected PDF needs re-exporting without the password; a poor scan may read better from a clearer copy. You can always enter the figures in the calculator yourself instead.
How many documents can I have read each month?
Free includes 3 document extractions in each monthly period, Pro 30, and Firm 50 per user. A provider pack, uploaded by a firm owner while packs are in beta, counts as one extraction. Each plan also has an AI processing limit for the allowance period. It caps the AI work that reading documents and answering Pan questions can use, and on the Firm plan it grows with the number of paid users. Long or complex documents use more of it than short ones, so it can run out before all included extractions are used. If a document would go over it, the upload stops before reading starts and tells you, and no extraction is used. Your usage this period, in account settings, counts extractions and Pan questions but does not show this limit. When a document read fails on our side or our AI provider’s, for example a time-out or an outage, the extraction is usually credited back automatically, and the error message then says it didn’t use one of your document extractions. If the message doesn’t say that and you think the failure was ours, contact support and we will restore the allowance after checking the processing record.
— The compliance annex PDF
How do I download the annex?
Open the saved calculation. On a draft that can be filed, choose Finalise and download PDF to file it and download the finished annex in one step, or Download draft preview (watermarked) to take a draft at any time; a draft whose inputs need review usually shows Download PDF annex, watermarked (a superseded draft, a pension draft without a current evidence review and a bond draft under integrity review do not), and cannot be filed until you review its inputs and calculate again from its calculator or workflow. A saved inheritance-tax draft that can be filed shows File calculation beside its download link, and lump sum allowance, lump sum and death benefit allowance and TTFAC drafts are filed from their own workflow’s result step. A filed calculation shows Download PDF annex with no watermark. Re-downloading a PDF never counts. On Pro and Firm, downloads are unlimited; on the Free plan a calculation counts once, when you file it or first download its PDF.
What does filing a calculation do?
Filing turns a draft into a fixed record. A filed calculation cannot be edited — to change an input, run a new calculation — and its annex is served as the same archived file every time it is downloaded. Before filing, the saved calculation is checked against the rules version it was made with; if that check fails, filing is refused and you are asked to recalculate with the current rules.
What appears on every page?
Your firm line, the date it was prepared — with, on Pro and Firm, the preparer’s name if the firm owner has chosen to show it — and page numbers. The complete planning disclaimer appears once, after the workings, and case-specific warnings sit beside the result they affect.
Who is the annex for?
The annex is the calculation record for the client file. It shows the figures and how they were worked out; it does not certify that the firm’s advice is compliant. It carries your firm’s name and, for a calculation saved to a client, the client’s name, so you can share it with that client. If you do, explain it in your own advice documents: it illustrates a calculation and is not a recommendation.
Is there a sample annex?
Yes, two, each with a fictional client and no account needed: a bond top-slicing relief annex at /marketing/sample-annex-bond.pdf, whose first page is shown on the home page, and a pension annual allowance and carry forward annex at /marketing/sample-annex-pension.pdf. Both are marked as samples and use the Free plan’s styling, with no logo or brand colour; Pro and Firm add yours.
— Your account and team
How do I sign in?
With Google, Microsoft, or a sign-in link sent to your email — there are no passwords. You can open the emailed link on any device, including a phone or a different browser. If the link has expired or was already used, request a new one from the sign-in page.
My sign-in link has not arrived or no longer works
The email can take a minute, so check your spam or junk folder, then use Send it again on the sign-in page. Each link works once and for a limited time; if it has expired or was already used, request a new one. Sign-in emails are limited each hour per address and per network, so if you see “Too many attempts”, wait for the time shown or sign in with Google or Microsoft instead.
Can I add colleagues?
On the Firm plan. The firm owner invites advisers, paraplanners and reviewers from the firm settings. Seats are checked when each invitation is sent, and a pending invitation holds one until it is accepted, withdrawn or expires; existing members keep their access if the seats are later reduced. Free and Pro are single-user plans.
Who can change the plan or see invoices?
The firm owner, from the firm settings page. Manage subscription opens the Stripe billing portal, where you can move from Pro to Firm, add or remove seats on the Firm plan, update the payment method, see invoices and cancel. If the owner has two-factor authentication switched on, they confirm it first.
What happens to my data if I cancel?
Your plan stays active until the end of the period already paid for, and your clients, calculations and filed annexes remain as they are (drafts downloaded after the plan ends use the Free styling). Your data follows the retention windows on the privacy page, and you can export it from your account settings, or delete clients and calculations from their own pages, at any time.
— Client data and security
What about client data?
Source PDFs are scheduled for deletion after 24 hours. Unconfirmed extracted content has a 90-day window; confirmed content follows your firm’s retention policy. Your firm controls client and calculation deletion, and can archive policies while preserving their history. Filed calculations follow the window your firm sets (six years by default). Client documents, client records and calculations are held in encrypted UK databases and processed in the UK and EU. Payments, the sign-in bot check and our edge network may process limited data elsewhere; the privacy notice explains each.
Where does the AI run, and what does it do?
AI never calculates. It reads figures off documents for you to confirm, and on Pro and Firm plans Pan answers questions from a client’s stored facts. Every figure Pan gives comes from stored facts or deterministic code. Both run on Amazon Bedrock in an EU region — the only model transport the product has — and every extracted field passes through your review before a calculation runs. The maths itself is deterministic code, checked against a public table of regression cases with their sources. Cases the engine cannot work are refused, and where HMRC’s guidance is ambiguous a documented reading is applied and kept on record, available on request (see /trust).
Do I need a data processing agreement?
Yes, before you enter identifiable client data. Your firm is the controller and ParaplanAI the processor (UK GDPR Article 28). /legal/dpa summarises the terms but is not a signed contract. To request the signed agreement, email info@paraplanai.co.uk with your firm name and primary contact; the execution copy is being held until solicitor review is complete, so use fictional examples until you have it.
Can I add my firm's branding?
On Pro and Firm, add your logo, brand colour and a contact line after the disclaimer. Free PDFs use ParaplanAI styling, but still print your firm name, and your FCA number if you have entered it, with a small “Prepared with ParaplanAI · paraplanai.co.uk” credit in the footer. The calculation structure and standard disclaimer remain fixed.
— The free calculators
Do I need an account to use the free calculators?
No. Every page under /calculators is free, with no sign-up, and runs the same engine and versioned tax-year config as the signed-in suite.
Where do the figures I type into a free calculator go?
They stay in your browser unless you choose to send them. A share link carries the figures in the link itself. Downloading a PDF from the long-term care entitlement checker or the pension contribution net cost calculator sends them to our servers to build the file. Continuing from the Pension IHT calculator to the full workbench holds its figures (no names or contact details) on our servers under a single-use link for 7 days. When you are signed in, rerunning them in the workbench or downloading a calculator's PDF also sends them to our servers.
Which tax year do the calculators use?
The latest configured tax year — currently 2026/27 — read from the same versioned configuration the signed-in suite calculates against. Earlier years are selectable inside each tool where the calculation depends on them.