The statutory ceiling
This rate is fixed by statute and no bidding can reduce it, so every certificate sold carries it in full. It is a ceiling only in the sense that nothing pays more. There is no statutory minimum return.
No minimum, because there is nothing to compete away
Kentucky sets no statutory minimum return because it sets no variable one either. The rate is fixed and nothing is bid at the sale, so what you earn depends on how long the certificate stays unpaid, not on what you gave up to win it.
How interest accrues
Simple interest at 12 percent per year, never compounded. For a third-party purchaser the base is the amount actually paid to the county clerk, and interest runs on the outstanding balance of that base from the purchase date until the certificate is paid. A fraction of a month counts as an entire month, so the shortest possible hold still earns one month of interest, about 1 percent. There is no statutory floor beyond that and no premium tier. Interest can also stop: if the purchaser fails to send the notices KRS 134.490 requires, accrual of all interest and fees is suspended from that point until proper notice is given.
Why nothing is bid at this sale
Kentucky runs no auction in the ordinary sense. There is no rate to bid down and no price to bid up, because a certificate of delinquency sells for the amount due on it. What the sale allocates is access. A third-party purchaser who already holds a prior year certificate on a parcel files a priority list with the county clerk as part of registration, fifteen days before the sale, and takes that parcel's current certificate off the table before the sale opens, with the holder of the most recent tax year ranking first. Everything left is sold in lots whose size is set by how many certificates the county has, from lots of five in counties with 500 or fewer certificates up to lots of fifty in the largest counties, and the order in which registered purchasers pick lots is decided by a random drawing on the day of the sale. The clerk may not structure the sale so that one third party can take every certificate while other registered purchasers want them, and related entities and related interests may not register separately to game the draw.
When the certificates sell
One sale a year in each county, on a date the Department of Revenue assigns. The department sends each county clerk a proposed date by May 1, settles changes by May 15, and publishes the final statewide schedule after that. Each county's sale must fall at least 90 and not more than 135 days after the sheriff files the unpaid tax claims with the clerk on April 15, which puts the ordinary window between roughly mid July and late August. A clerk who expects certificates on unmined coal, oil, gas, or other separately assessed mineral reserves to arrive too late may ask the department to hold that county's sale up to 195 days after the filing date, which is why the tail of the statewide schedule runs into October.
The headline figure is a ceiling, not a forecast. To see what a certificate actually pays over a real holding period, run the numbers in the yield calculator, and compare Kentucky against other states on interest rates by state.
Verified Aug 23, 2026 against Kentucky statutes.
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.