Arkansas tax sale statutes

The governing law

Arkansas is a tax deed state, and an unusual one: the sale is run by a single statewide office rather than by counties. Land whose taxes go unpaid for a year after the October 15 due date is forfeited to the state and certified to the Commissioner of State Lands, and Ark. Code Ann. 26-37-101 says in terms that tax-delinquent lands shall not be sold at the county level. The Commissioner then advertises and auctions the parcel in the county where it sits, no earlier than one year after certification, with a minimum bid equal to the delinquent taxes, penalties, interest and costs. The winning bidder receives a limited warranty deed. Parcels that draw no qualifying bid move to an ongoing online unsold-property auction 30 days later. The governing law is Ark. Code Ann. Title 26, Chapter 37, which carries the certification, sale and redemption mechanics; the due dates and the tax lien itself sit in Chapters 34 and 36.