Understanding the Risk Center

The four lanes, in order

• Blocked — you cannot finish these because something is missing. They come first because they take the longest to clear, not because they are the nearest.
• Overdue — the statutory date has passed and it is not marked submitted. Penalty territory.
• Due this week — the next seven days.
• Due this month — everything else inside 30 days.

Internal target dates

A statutory date is when it must be filed. An internal target date is when your practice wants it done — usually a week or two earlier.

Set one on any deadline and the Risk Center works to your date instead of the statutory one, so the buffer you build in is real rather than a note in someone's diary.

Estimated penalty exposure

Overdue items show an estimated exposure in pounds, worked out from the published penalty regimes for that filing type.

It is an estimate for prioritisation, not advice. It ignores anything only HMRC or Companies House knows — previous defaults, surcharge periods, reasonable excuse. Use it to decide what to do first, not to tell a client what they owe.

The all-clear

When nothing is blocked, overdue or due this week, the Risk Center says so plainly. That state is the product working: an empty screen here is the outcome you are paying for.