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Tax Sale Atlas

Cumberland County, KY tax sales

How tax lien sales work in Cumberland County, seat of Burkesville: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.

New to tax sales? Read how Kentucky tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.

Next sale
Tax sale scheduled for September 15, 2026.Tuesday · 2026
County office
(270) 864-3726
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Aug 23, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page

How Cumberland County sells delinquent taxes

From lien to deed

Kentucky holds no county tax deed auction. Title moves only through a lawsuit. The owner of a certificate of delinquency may sue to collect the debt, to enforce the KRS 134.420 lien, or both, at any time after one year has passed from the date the taxes became delinquent, and the action must be brought within eleven years of that date. A third-party purchaser has extra duties first: a notice to the delinquent taxpayer within 50 days of receiving the certificate, that notice repeated every six months, and a further notice to the taxpayer and every mortgagee at least 45 days before filing suit.

Tax certificate sale (lien)

Run by
Cumberland County Clerk
Frequency
annual
Next sale
Tax sale scheduled for September 15, 2026.
Next expected
between mid July and late August, 2026 (window; exact date posts closer to the sale)
Sale list
Open 2025 delinquent tax bills
When it runs
The Clerk holds one certificate of delinquency sale a year, in September. The current notice reads: "Deadline to Register for the 2025 tax sale is COB Saturday 9/05/2026 with the actual sale being held on Tuesday 9/15/2026."
Registration and deposit

Register with the Clerk on Kentucky Department of Revenue form 62A374, Certificate of Delinquency Sale Registration, which must be notarized. The form, all lists, registration fees and deposits are due at the Clerk's office at least 10 calendar days before the sale, and the Clerk sets this year's cutoff at close of business Saturday, September 5, 2026. Every purchaser also emails an Intent to Purchase List as an attachment to [email protected], built from the Clerk's spreadsheet template and named to include the registration name. Rank that list by preference, because the Clerk assigns bills in the order each purchaser lists them. Registration fees are $5 per priority certificate plus $10 per other certificate, capped at $250 and paid separately from the deposit. The deposit equals the full amount due on all priority certificates plus a percentage of the remaining certificates set on the form. A buyer already holding a prior year certificate on the same parcel files a separate Priority Certificates of Delinquency list showing the earlier certificate's bill number, tax year, and recording book and page. Anyone buying more than three certificates in this county, more than five statewide, or investing more than $10,000 must also hold a third party purchaser certificate of registration from the Kentucky Department of Revenue.

Sale format and venue
The Clerk runs this electronically from paperwork filed in advance, not as a live auction and not on an online bidding site. The notice states: "This will be an ELECTRONIC SALE, NO ONE NEEDS TO BE PRESENT." Nobody attends and nobody bids against another buyer in real time. Purchasers file ranked Intent to Purchase Lists before the deadline, and the Clerk assigns each certificate by statutory priority, with holders of a prior year certificate on the same parcel taking their bills first and everyone else filled in the order their own list names each bill. That makes list ordering, not bidding, the lever an investor controls here. The 2025 sale list carries roughly 140 bills, most of them under $1,000 and only a handful above $2,000, so plan for small-ticket volume rather than a few large positions. Bill-level detail is searchable on the Clerk's online delinquent tax listing, and a bill can be paid off or bought right up to the sale date, so re-pull the list close to the deadline before finalizing your rankings.

Cumberland County tax sale list and auction calendar

For Cumberland 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.

  1. Get the advertised list

    Use Open 2025 delinquent tax bills for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.
  2. Register to bid

    Ask the county office how and when to register; many counties close registration days or weeks before the sale.
  3. Sale day

    Tax sale scheduled for September 15, 2026. The auction platform is still being verified. Confirm the next sale date and registration window with the county before you bid.
  4. Confirm with the office

    If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use Cumberland County Clerk as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.

Before you bid in Cumberland County

  1. Start with the live sale list

    Pull the current advertised parcels from Open 2025 delinquent tax bills. Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.
  2. Confirm registration and deposit

    Register with the Clerk on Kentucky Department of Revenue form 62A374, Certificate of Delinquency Sale Registration, which must be notarized. The form, all lists, registration fees and deposits are due at the Clerk's office at least 10 calendar days before the sale, and the Clerk sets this year's cutoff at close of business Saturday, September 5, 2026. Every purchaser also emails an Intent to Purchase List as an attachment to [email protected], built from the Clerk's spreadsheet template and named to include the registration name. Rank that list by preference, because the Clerk assigns bills in the order each purchaser lists them. Registration fees are $5 per priority certificate plus $10 per other certificate, capped at $250 and paid separately from the deposit. The deposit equals the full amount due on all priority certificates plus a percentage of the remaining certificates set on the form. A buyer already holding a prior year certificate on the same parcel files a separate Priority Certificates of Delinquency list showing the earlier certificate's bill number, tax year, and recording book and page. Anyone buying more than three certificates in this county, more than five statewide, or investing more than $10,000 must also hold a third party purchaser certificate of registration from the Kentucky Department of Revenue.

  3. Check the state rules that change the bid

    Read the Kentucky due-diligence checklist before bidding. Redemption, liens that survive a tax deed, title cleanup, and payment deadlines can change what a parcel is worth.
  4. 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

A certificate that goes unpaid at the annual sale may be paid to the county clerk at any time afterward by any person, unless it is under a payment plan with the Department of Revenue or the county attorney or is known to be in litigation. You need a current Department of Revenue certificate of registration if you will hold more than three certificates in this county, more than five statewide, or invest more than 10,000 dollars statewide in the calendar year, and you register with the county clerk and pay the county fee if you have not already done so that year. Separately, 90 days after the sheriff files the tax claims, any person may pay a certificate the taxing jurisdictions still own. Certificates that arrive too late for one year's sale are held for the next one.

New to this path? Read how over-the-counter certificates work.

Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.

County offices

Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)

Cumberland County Clerk

(270) 864-3726

PO Box 275, Burkesville, KY 42717-0275 (office at 601 Courthouse Square, Burkesville, KY 42717)

Official website

County notes

  • Bryan Morgan is the Cumberland County Clerk. Certificate of delinquency questions go to the office at (270) 864-3726, and registration packets and Intent to Purchase Lists go to [email protected].
  • No online auction platform serves this county. Registration runs on a notarized paper form with fees and a deposit delivered to the Clerk, while the bill list moves by email, so allow time for the notary and the payment before the cutoff.
  • The Sheriff collects current year bills and transfers the uncollected ones to the Clerk on April 15, so the sale list firms up over the summer. The Clerk posts the open bill list as a dated PDF and refreshes it as owners pay.
  • Fax for the Clerk's office is (270) 864-5884.

Kentucky rules

Max interest rate
12% per year, fixed by statute (nothing is bid)
Minimum return
No statutory floor; every certificate earns the same statutory rate
Redemption
Kentucky's redemption window is a property of where the parcel is in the process, not a single statewide clock, and it runs in four tracks. Track one, and by far the most common, is an outstanding certificate of delinquency: the delinquent taxpayer or anyone holding a legal or equitable estate in the property may pay the third-party purchaser the total amount due at any time, and the purchaser may accept payment from anyone at any time. No statute closes that window, so it stays open until a court forecloses. Track two is a foreclosure sale that brought less than two thirds of the property's appraised value, where the defendant and the defendant's representatives may redeem within six months of the day of sale. Track three is a foreclosure sale that brought two thirds or more of the appraised value, where no right of redemption exists at all; the purchaser takes the property outright. Track four is land the state, county, and taxing districts acquired through a KRS 134.546 action, which the taxpayer may redeem at any time before the commissioner delivers a deed to a purchaser. A third-party purchaser must also offer a monthly installment plan on written request for certificates bought after June 1, 2012, if the purchaser is one who has to register with the department.
Surplus proceeds
If nobody bids at the foreclosure sale, the master commissioner deeds the property to the person or persons the record shows own the certificate or certificates of delinquency, each taking a pro rata interest matching the size of their certificate. Where the state, county, or a taxing district ends up owning the land, the commissioner's designated agent may advertise and sell it at public sale after posting notice at the courthouse door for fifteen days and publishing under KRS Chapter 424, the department keeps an administration fee of 15 percent of the sale price, and the balance is paid to the county and taxing districts within thirty days.
Governing statute
KRS Chapter 134

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.

See the full Kentuckyrules and every county →

Frequently asked questions

Does Cumberland County, Kentucky sell tax liens or tax deeds?

Tax lien certificates. In Kentucky investors buy the lien, not the property; the County Clerk runs the sale.

When is the Cumberland County tax certificate sale?

The Clerk holds one certificate of delinquency sale a year, in September. The current notice reads: "Deadline to Register for the 2025 tax sale is COB Saturday 9/05/2026 with the actual sale being held on Tuesday 9/15/2026." Always confirm the exact date with the County Clerk before the sale.

I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?

Often yes, by paying the overdue taxes, interest, and costs before the deadline. Kentucky's redemption rule: No fixed deadline while the certificate is outstanding. Six months after a judicial sale that brings less than two thirds of the appraised value, and none at all when it brings two thirds or more. Call the Cumberland County Clerk as early as possible for your exact payoff and options; deadlines are strict. Free help: lawhelp.org lists legal aid programs, and consumerfinance.gov lists HUD-approved housing counselors.

Where can I find the Cumberland County tax sale list?

Cumberland County posts its tax sale list at cumberland.kycountyclerk.us. Lists go up ahead of each sale and keep changing until the sale date, so confirm every parcel against the county's legal advertisement before you bid.

Verified Aug 23, 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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