Benton County, AR tax sales
How tax deed sales work in Benton County, seat of Bentonville: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
New to tax sales? Read how Arkansas tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.
- Next sale
- Once a year, in the Commissioner's mid-August block for northwest Arkansas.
- Format
- In person
- Registration
- Registration opens one hour before the auction at the sale site and costs nothing.
- County office
- 479-271-1040
On this page
How Benton County sells delinquent taxes
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Arkansas Commissioner of State Lands. The Benton County Collector bills, collects and certifies unredeemed parcels; the Commissioner publishes the catalog, conducts the auction and issues the limited warranty deed.
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- Once a year, in the Commissioner's mid-August block for northwest Arkansas.
- Registration
- Registration opens one hour before the auction at the sale site and costs nothing.
When it runs
Registration and deposit
Registration opens one hour before the auction at the sale site and costs nothing. Bring photo identification, take a numbered bidder card and keep the matching half as your bidder number. Each parcel opens at the delinquent taxes, penalties, interest and costs printed beside it in the catalog and sells to the highest bidder at or above that figure. Payment in full is due at the sale by personal or business check, cashier's check, money order, or credit or debit card with a processing fee; cash is not accepted. For the post-auction online sale, register at auction.cosl.org, clear the identity check and keep a card on file. The first $100 per parcel is charged immediately and the balance must reach the Commissioner within 10 days of the auction's close.
Sale format and venue
Benton County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Benton County tax sale 2026 searches, use the county-run sources below rather than a copied parcel list, and confirm the parcel, registration cutoff, deposit, and payment deadline against the county before you bid.
Get the advertised list
Use Commissioner of State Lands Public Auction Catalog (select Benton) for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.Register to bid
Sale day
Once a year, in the Commissioner's mid-August block for northwest Arkansas. The sale is live and in person; there is no online bidding platform. Confirm the venue and hour with the county office before you go.Confirm with the office
If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use Arkansas Commissioner of State Lands. The Benton County Collector bills, collects and certifies unredeemed parcels; the Commissioner publishes the catalog, conducts the auction and issues the limited warranty deed. as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Benton County
4 checks
Start with the live sale list
Pull the current advertised parcels from Commissioner of State Lands Public Auction Catalog (select Benton). Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.Confirm registration and deposit
Registration opens one hour before the auction at the sale site and costs nothing. Bring photo identification, take a numbered bidder card and keep the matching half as your bidder number. Each parcel opens at the delinquent taxes, penalties, interest and costs printed beside it in the catalog and sells to the highest bidder at or above that figure. Payment in full is due at the sale by personal or business check, cashier's check, money order, or credit or debit card with a processing fee; cash is not accepted. For the post-auction online sale, register at auction.cosl.org, clear the identity check and keep a card on file. The first $100 per parcel is charged immediately and the balance must reach the Commissioner within 10 days of the auction's close.
Check the state rules that change the bid
Read the Arkansas due-diligence checklist before bidding. Redemption, liens that survive a tax deed, title cleanup, and payment deadlines can change what a parcel is worth.Set a walk-away number
Work out what the parcel is actually worth with the rural land value estimator, then turn it into a ceiling with the tax deed max-bid calculator.
Over-the-counter (leftover) purchases
unsold properties
Thirty calendar days after the live auction, every parcel that drew no qualifying bid moves to the Commissioner's online unsold-property auction and stays there until it sells, is redeemed, or is withdrawn. Nothing is priced over a counter: the first online bid starts a 30-calendar-day auction period that closes at 8:00 p.m. Central on the thirtieth day, other registered bidders may outbid during it, and the Commissioner mails the owner and interested parties notice when the first bid arrives. Within two years of the live auction the reserve stays at the taxes, penalty, interest, fees and costs; two years or more after it, the Commissioner may negotiate a price he determines is in the best interest of the state and the local taxing units. Online bidders must pass an identity check as a United States resident and keep a card on file; the winner's card is charged $100 in earnest money immediately and the balance is due in certified funds within 10 business days.
New to this path? Read how over-the-counter purchases work.
Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.
County offices
Tax sale office
County notes
- Arkansas is state administered. The Benton County Collector bills and collects, but any parcel still unpaid is certified to the Arkansas Commissioner of State Lands, and the Commissioner, not the county, holds the auction and signs the deed.
- The sale does not sit in Bentonville. Benton and Washington county parcels are auctioned together in one northwest Arkansas session, and the 2026 sale was held in Springdale at the Holiday Inn and NWA Convention Center, Hall IV, 1500 S 48th St.
- Bidding here is metro priced, not rural cheap. The 2026 Benton sale closed 50 parcels at winning bids from $1,200 to $166,000, a spread wide enough that parcel-by-parcel underwriting beats any blanket minimum-bid strategy.
- Research every parcel at the county level before you bid. The Commissioner recommends verifying location, size, access, liens, mortgages and any other assessments through the Assessor, Circuit Clerk and Collector, because the state warrants none of them.
- Questions about a parcel's tax history go to the Collector in Rogers at 479-271-1040 or toll free at 866-810-8722, open 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays with satellite offices in Bentonville, Gravette and Siloam Springs. Questions about the auction, the catalog or the deed go to the Commissioner of State Lands real estate office at 501-324-9422.
Arkansas rules
- Redemption
- The clock is long even though the deadline is hard. The county collector holds the delinquent land for one year after the October 15 delinquency date, certification to the Commissioner of State Lands follows no later than July 1 of the next year, and the sale date must be no earlier than one year after certification, so an owner normally has more than two years from the missed payment. What the owner does not get is any post-sale window. The Commissioner's office states that, effective July 1, 2023, parcels sold through its office cannot be redeemed and all sales are final, at live auctions and through the online unsold-property auction alike. Payment has to be received by the 4:00 p.m. deadline; postmarks are not accepted. A quoted redemption figure holds for 30 days unless the parcel sells, the county amends its records, or further costs accrue.
- Deed deposit
- There is no statutory bidder deposit at the live auction and no registration fee. Registration opens one hour before the sale at the sale site against a photo ID and a driver's license number, and the successful bidder tenders the full purchase price at the time of the sale. The online unsold-property auction works differently: registration requires identity verification and a card on file, and the winning bidder's card is charged $100 in earnest money immediately on notification.
- Surplus proceeds
- Money above the taxes, fees, penalties, interest and costs due at the time of sale is excess proceeds. Within one year of receipt the Commissioner pays penalties, collection fees and sale costs to his own office and the delinquent taxes, interest and costs to the county. The remainder is held for one year from the date of the limited warranty deed, then applied on application to delinquent personal property taxes, state tax certificates of indebtedness and delinquent solid waste assessments. Of whatever is left, 10 percent up to a maximum of $500 goes to the Commissioner for administering the distribution and the rest is payable to the former owner on a complete claim packet. Excess proceeds are held two years and then escheat by operation of law to the county. A former owner, part owner or interested party who buys the parcel at the tax sale is not entitled to any distribution, and a third-party recovery agent's fee may not exceed 10 percent.
A tax deed does not convey marketable title. Most buyers file a quiet title action before they can resell or insure the property. See the due diligence guide.
Frequently asked questions
Does Benton County, Arkansas sell tax liens or tax deeds?
How often does Benton County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Benton County tax sale list?
Verified Aug 22, 2026 against official county and state sources.
Tax Sale Atlas publishes educational information about public tax sale processes. This is not legal, financial, or investment advice. Rules, dates, and fees change; confirm with the county office before you bid.
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