Wayne County, IA tax sales
How tax lien certificate sales work in Wayne County, seat of Corydon: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
Verified Jul 29, 2026 against official county and state sources.
New here? Read how Iowa tax sales work, the difference between a lien and a deed, and redemption periods.
How Wayne County sells delinquent taxes
Tax certificate sale (lien)
- Run by
- Wayne County Treasurer
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- The Wayne County Treasurer page states "The 2026 Wayne County Tax Sale will be held Monday, June 15th, 2026." The county's notice to tax sale purchasers adds that "The 2026 annual tax sale will be held by the Wayne County Treasurer on the third Monday in June beginning at 9:00 a.m. in the Wayne County Treasurer's office located in the Wayne County Courthouse, 100 N. Lafayette Street in Corydon, Iowa. Bidders will place their bids online." The sale runs as a single batch that opens at 9:00 a.m. and closes at 10:30 a.m. An adjourned tax sale is held any business day following the annual sale on which bidders are present and parcels remain available.
- Next expected
- on the third Monday in June, 2027 (window; exact date posts closer to the sale)
Registration and deposit
All prospective bidders must register online at iowataxauction.com. The county states that no mailed or emailed registrations are accepted. For the 2026 sale, registration opened Monday, May 18, 2026 at 12:01 a.m. and closed Thursday, June 11, 2026 at 11:59 p.m., and every step had to be finished by that deadline to bid at 9:00 a.m. on June 15. The county accepts no registrations on June 12 or on the day of the sale. Registration is complete when the bidder registers on the auction site, completes the online W-9 under the official unabbreviated IRS name, and pays a non-refundable 36 dollar registration fee by ACH debit. That one fee covers the June sale and all associated adjourned sales, and it is not charged to a municipality or to the county as a purchaser. Prior year registrations do not carry over and bidders must be 18 or older. Bidders that are not individuals must hold a federal tax identification number and certify that they filed either a designation of agent for service of process with the Iowa Secretary of State or a verified statement under Iowa Code chapter 547 with the Wayne County Recorder. Auction site support is available at (800) 800-9588 or [email protected].
Wayne County runs a hosted online sale. The treasurer conducts the sale from the Wayne County Courthouse in Corydon, but all bidding happens on the Iowa Tax Auction site, so investors do not attend in person. Bidding is Iowa's bid-down-ownership method: each parcel opens at 100 percent undivided interest and bidders bid downward in whole percentage points from 99 percent to 1 percent, with the certificate going to the bidder accepting the smallest undivided interest. Ties among equal low bids are broken by a random bidder selection process. Bids may be uploaded before the sale opens but are not applied until 9:00 a.m. Parcels are offered in the order published, with regular sale parcels (published for the first time) separated from public bidder parcels (published for the second consecutive year). Winning bidders receive an emailed invoice at the close of the batch, and an ACH debit for the total amount due initiates automatically from the account used to pay the registration fee. The total includes delinquent taxes, special assessments, interest, special assessment collection fees, publishing costs, and a 20 dollar certificate fee per certificate issued. A bidder who fails to pay by the deadline is awarded no certificates, and returned payments carry a 30 dollar service fee plus three business days to cure with guaranteed funds. Certificates take up to 15 business days to arrive by email and originals stay in the treasurer's office unless the purchaser requests otherwise. Certificate holders must make all subsequent tax payments online at iowatreasurers.org, at 25 cents per parcel, posted one day before the last business day of the month for that month's interest to accrue; subsequent payments accrue 2 percent per month. Assigning a certificate, including any change to the holder's name or federal identification number, costs a 100 dollar assignment transaction fee that is not reimbursed at redemption. County-held certificates can be obtained by assignment through the treasurer's office, and an assignee of a county-held certificate has three years from the recorded assignment date, rather than from the sale date, to qualify for a tax deed. The 90 day notice of expiration of right of redemption may be served after one year and nine months from sale on regular parcels and after nine months on public bidder parcels; the treasurer's office does not notify holders when that window opens and does not help prepare the notice. The deed issuance fee is 25 dollars plus a variable recording fee payable to the Wayne County Recorder.
Register on Online auctionFrom lien to deed
- Run by
- County Treasurer
- Frequency
- none
- Typical timing
- Iowa holds no tax deed auction. The treasurer makes out a treasurer's deed to the certificate holder immediately after 90 days have expired from completed service of the notice of expiration of the right of redemption, once the holder returns the certificate and pays the deed and recording fees.
There is nothing for an investor to bid on at the deed stage in Iowa. The only auction is the June certificate sale. The certificate holder must return the certificate of purchase and remit the deed and recording fees within 90 calendar days after the redemption period expires, or the treasurer cancels the certificate.
Over-the-counter (leftover) purchases
Two routes reach parcels after the June sale. Parcels that remain unsold for want of bidders are carried to adjourned sales, which the treasurer sets at intervals of not more than two months until the next annual sale. Separately, certificates struck to the county at the public bidder sale may be assigned by the county for the total amount due on the date of assignment, or for a compromised amount, under a written agreement filed with the treasurer and a 10 dollar assignment transaction fee. Ask the county treasurer which county-held certificates are available for assignment.
New to this path? Read how over-the-counter certificates work.
County offices
Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)
Wayne County Courthouse, 100 N. Lafayette Street, P.O. Box 435, Corydon, IA 50060
Official websiteNotes for Wayne County
- Wayne County's treasurer is Amanda Cooper. The office sits in the courthouse on the Corydon square at 100 N. Lafayette Street and keeps 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday hours, with a same day processing cutoff of 3:45 p.m. Fax is 641-872-3330.
- The delinquent parcel list is published in the Corydon Times-Republican, 109 Benton Ave E., Albia, IA 52531, during the week of June 1, 2026, and copies can be requested from the paper at (641) 932-7121. The same parcels post for review on the Iowa Tax Auction site by Friday, May 29, and reaching that data requires a completed bidder registration.
- The county withholds parcels that were paid after publication, that are subject to bankruptcy, or that qualify for suspension. A certificate may be rescinded if a pre-existing bankruptcy stay is disclosed to the treasurer after the sale, in which case only principal is refunded and the treasurer pays no interest.
- Abandoned residential property with a verified statement filed with the treasurer by May 15 is sold separately at a public nuisance tax sale under Iowa Code 446.19B, where bidders must first enter a rehabilitation agreement with the city or county. Iowa Code 446.19B also lets a county or city buy regular sale parcels or require assignment of certificates on vacant lots and abandoned parcels.
- Non-individual bidders should line up the Iowa Secretary of State filing early. The county lists the Secretary of State at (515) 281-5204 and the Wayne County Recorder at (641) 872-1676 for the chapter 547 verified statement route.
- Search results for a Wayne County treasurer auction frequently return Wayne County, Michigan, which runs an unrelated tax foreclosure auction. Iowa's Wayne County sells certificates only through the Iowa Tax Auction site.
Iowa statewide rules
- Minimum return
- No statutory minimum return; what you earn is set by the share of ownership taken at the sale
- Redemption
- A parcel may be redeemed at any time before the right of redemption expires. After one year and nine months from the date of sale, the certificate holder may serve a notice of expiration of the right of redemption on the person in possession, the person in whose name the parcel is taxed, and every mortgagee, contract vendor, recorded lessor, and other party of record. The right of redemption then ends 90 days after that service is complete, which means the affidavit of service has been filed with the county treasurer. Three shortened tracks exist: nine months from a public bidder sale under section 446.18, and three months from an abandoned-property or public nuisance sale under section 446.19A or 446.19B. After the treasurer delivers the deed, redemption is possible only through an equitable action in district court, and only by a person who could have redeemed during the 90-day window.
- Surplus proceeds
- No surplus arises. The deed conveys the parcel to the certificate holder rather than selling it to the highest bidder, so there are no excess proceeds to distribute. Where the winning bid was less than 100 percent, the deed conveys only that undivided percentage interest in the parcel.
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 Wayne County, Iowa sell tax liens or tax deeds?
- Wayne County follows Iowa's tax lien state system.
When is the Wayne County tax certificate sale?
- The Wayne County Treasurer page states "The 2026 Wayne County Tax Sale will be held Monday, June 15th, 2026." The county's notice to tax sale purchasers adds that "The 2026 annual tax sale will be held by the Wayne County Treasurer on the third Monday in June beginning at 9:00 a.m. in the Wayne County Treasurer's office located in the Wayne County Courthouse, 100 N. Lafayette Street in Corydon, Iowa. Bidders will place their bids online." The sale runs as a single batch that opens at 9:00 a.m. and closes at 10:30 a.m. An adjourned tax sale is held any business day following the annual sale on which bidders are present and parcels remain available.. Registration and bidding happen on the county's online platform. Always confirm the exact date with the Tax Collector before the sale.
How often does Wayne County hold tax deed sales?
- none. 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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