Wilkes County, GA tax sales
How tax lien certificate and tax deed sales work in Wilkes County, seat of Washington: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
Verified Jul 27, 2026 against official county and state sources.
New here? Read how Georgia tax sales work, the difference between a lien and a deed, and redemption periods.
How Wilkes County sells delinquent taxes
Tax certificate sale (lien)
Details are being verified for this county.
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Wilkes County Tax Commissioner (Lisa Dozier)
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- Sales are held on a first Tuesday, but not every month. The Tax Commissioner's own "Excess Taxes" document, headed "Overpayment from Tax Sale, Wilkes County", records parcels sold on 4/6/21, 9/6/22, 9/5/23 and 8/6/24. Each of those is the first Tuesday of its month, and the pattern points to roughly one sale a year in late summer or early fall. A Bid4Assets courtesy notice for the most recent of those sales lists "Date of Sale: 08/06/24", "Deed or Lien: Redeemable Deed", "Sale Type: Live/In Person", "Number of Redeemable Deeds: 48". Confirm the next date with the Tax Commissioner, because the county does not publish a sale calendar online.
Registration and deposit
No registration or bidder-qualification instructions are published on the county website. A keyword search of wilkescountyga.org for "tax sale", "delinquent" and "excess funds" returns no results. Call the Tax Commissioner at (706) 678-2422 for bidder requirements and payment terms before the sale.
Wilkes County runs a live, in-person redeemable tax deed sale. There is no online bidding platform, so no platform URL is given here. The county website carries no tax sale page at all: the Tax Commissioner section covers property tax, mobile home tax, timber tax and motor vehicle work only, and site search finds no tax sale, delinquent or excess funds content. The one county-published artifact tied to the sale is the Tax Commissioner's "Excess Taxes" file in the Document Library (Word document, https://www.wilkescountyga.org/media/586), which lists post-sale overpayments by parcel with the sale date beside each entry. That file is an excess funds list, not a pre-sale property list, so it will not tell you what is coming up for bid. The county's Government Window portal (https://wilkescountyga.governmentwindow.com/tax.html) handles property tax payments and bill lookups only and shows no sale information. A Bid4Assets listing exists for the county but is a courtesy notice, not an auction: the page states "Bid4Assets is providing this notice of sale strictly as a courtesy to our users. Bid4Assets is not conducting this public auction, nor are we affiliated in any way with this sale." That same notice calls the seller "The Treasurer's Office of Wilkes County", which is wrong, since Georgia counties have no treasurer and the Tax Commissioner conducts the sale. Treat any figure on that page as unverified. Bidders should call the office and check the county legal organ newspaper for the advertised notice, since Georgia requires the sale to be published before it runs.
County offices
Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)
Notes for Wilkes County
- Wilkes County is small and rural. Its Tax Commissioner publishes no tax sale page, no sale calendar, no bidder registration packet and no pre-sale property list on the county website.
- The only county-published record of the sale is the Tax Commissioner's "Excess Taxes" document in the county Document Library. It is a scanned list headed "Overpayment from Tax Sale, Wilkes County" and it carries the sale date next to each parcel: 4/6/21, 9/6/22, 9/5/23 and 8/6/24. Every one of those dates is a first Tuesday.
- The cadence in that record is about one sale per year, not monthly, so an investor tracking this county should call the office rather than assume a fixed month.
- Office hours listed on the county site are 8:00am to 5:00pm, Monday through Friday.
- The Tax Commissioner is Lisa Dozier. The office also lists tax clerks Peggy Luten, Hollie Dobbs and Melissa Wilson, all at the same number.
- Wilkes County's Board of Tax Assessors runs a separate site at qpublic.net/ga/wilkes for parcel research and valuation. Chief Appraiser is Rebecca Wilson, phone 706-678-7732. That office sets values only and carries no sale information.
- The Georgia Department of Revenue's county property tax facts page for Wilkes lists no direct Tax Commissioner phone or address and points readers to washingtonwilkes.org, which is the local chamber of commerce site, not a government site. Do not route users there.
- Sale location was not confirmed from an official county page. Georgia tax sales are cried at the courthouse, and the county's own address is 23 Court Street, Washington, GA 30673, but the exact spot and start time should be confirmed with the office.
Georgia statewide rules
- Redemption
- The right to redeem runs for 12 months from the date of the sale and does not end there. It continues after the year until the tax deed purchaser forecloses it by serving and publishing the statutory barment notice, which cannot be started until 12 months have passed. The purchaser delivers the notice to the sheriff at least 45 days before the redemption deadline named in it, and publishes it once a week for four consecutive weeks in the six months immediately before that deadline. Redemption puts title back in the defendant in fi. fa. subject to the liens that existed at the sale, and the purchaser must execute and record a quitclaim deed. Title under a tax deed recorded on or after July 1, 1996 ripens by prescription four years after recording. Judicial in rem foreclosures under Article 5 run on a different clock: the owner has 60 days after the sale to redeem by paying the minimum bid price into the superior court.
- Deed deposit
- Georgia sets no statewide percentage deposit. A purchaser at a judicial sale may tender cash or a cashier's or certified check drawn for the purchase price and issued or certified by a federally insured financial institution. Counties publish their own payment terms, and many require payment in full at the close of the sale, so confirm the terms with the tax commissioner before bidding.
- Surplus proceeds
- Excess funds left after taxes, costs, and the expenses of the sale belong to the former owner and to recorded lienholders in order of priority. The officer who sold the property must mail notice of the excess funds by first-class mail within 30 days to the record owner at the time of the sale, to the holder of each security deed, and to every other party with a recorded equity interest or claim, and may file an interpleader action in superior court. Funds still unclaimed five years after the sale are paid over to the Georgia Department of Revenue, after which only a court order from an interpleader action releases them.
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 Wilkes County, Georgia sell tax liens or tax deeds?
- Wilkes County follows Georgia's redeemable deed state system.
How often does Wilkes County hold tax deed sales?
- annual. Each sale is scheduled and advertised in advance, so check the county's tax deed calendar for the next posted date.
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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