Calcasieu County, LA tax sales
How tax lien sales work in Calcasieu County, seat of Lake Charles: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
New to tax sales? Read how Louisiana tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.
- Next sale
- The next sale is set for September 22, 2026 at 2:00 p.m.Tuesday · 2026
- Format
- ZEUS
- Registration
- Offers for the September 22, 2026 sale were due by noon on Friday, September 18, 2026.
- County office
- (337) 491-3680
On this page
How Calcasieu County sells delinquent taxes
From lien to deed
Louisiana holds no tax deed sale. A certificate holder who has not been paid files an ordinary proceeding under R.S. 47:2266.1 asking the court to recognize the delinquent obligation and the lien, and can do so only after the later of three years from recordation of the tax lien certificate or six months after sending the post-auction notices required by R.S. 47:2156. Those notices cannot go out more than one year before the suit, which makes years three through four the natural filing window. The petition names every owner shown in the conveyance records, and a notice of pendency of action goes into the mortgage records to preserve the lien while the case runs. Judgment is in rem only. It is executed by writ of fieri facias under Code of Civil Procedure Article 2291 and following, and the property is sold at a sheriff's judicial sale.
Tax certificate sale (lien)
- Run by
- Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office Tax Division (Sheriff and Ex-Officio Tax Collector)
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- One online tax auction a year, scheduled by the Sheriff's Tax Division. The 2026 sale was set for June 3, 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
- Registration
- Register on Zeus Auction and get approved for the Calcasieu sale before bidding opens.
- Next expected
- advertised for auction by May 1, 2027 (window; exact date posts closer to the sale)
Registration and deposit
Register on Zeus Auction and get approved for the Calcasieu sale before bidding opens. Registration for the 2026 sale opened May 14 and closed May 22 at 1:00 p.m., so expect the window to shut roughly ten days ahead of the auction. A Zeus account costs nothing, but every sale takes its own separate registration and seller approval, and you need an account to see the item list.
Sale format and venue
Calcasieu County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Calcasieu 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.
Get the advertised list
Use Adjudicated Property Sale List and Notice of Intention to Sell, Calcasieu Parish Police Jury for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.Register to bid
Sale day
The next sale is set for September 22, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. Bidding runs on ZEUS; check posted sale dates, registration status, and bidding windows there.Confirm with the office
If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use Calcasieu Parish Police Jury, Division of Planning and Development as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Calcasieu County
4 checks
Start with the live sale list
Pull the current advertised parcels from Adjudicated Property Sale List and Notice of Intention to Sell, Calcasieu Parish Police Jury. Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.Confirm registration and deposit
File a written offer on the parish application form with a certified check or money order for $75.00 per parcel payable to the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury, delivered to the Division of Planning and Development at 901 Lakeshore Drive, 5th Floor, or PO Drawer 3287, Lake Charles, LA 70602. Offers for the September 22, 2026 sale were due by noon on Friday, September 18, 2026. Only parties who filed an offer with the deposit may raise verbal bids at the sale.
Check the state rules that change the bid
Read the Louisiana due-diligence checklist before bidding. Redemption, liens that survive a tax deed, title cleanup, and payment deadlines can change what a parcel is worth.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
unsold certificates
A lien nobody bids on has its certificate recorded in favor of the political subdivision, which then earns the full 1 percent per month. Any person may buy that lien from the political subdivision on the terms and conditions it sets, taking the same rights as any other certificate holder, and a political subdivision may adopt an ordinance for the public sale of the liens it holds and may sell for less than the full amount owed. There is no statewide list and no statewide price. Ask the tax collector and the parish or municipal governing authority which certificates are held and what their ordinance requires.
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)
Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office Tax Division
Magnolia Life Building, 1011 Lakeshore Drive, Suite 100, Lake Charles, LA 70601 (mailing: P.O. Box 1450, Lake Charles, LA 70602)
Official websiteCounty notes
- Louisiana has parishes, not counties, and the Sheriff serves as ex officio tax collector, so the Sheriff's Tax Division rather than a treasurer runs the annual tax sale.
- The Tax Division counter sits in the Magnolia Life Building at 1011 Lakeshore Drive, Suite 100, Lake Charles, open Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. A second counter operates at the CPSO Law Enforcement Center, 1525 Cypress Street, Sulphur.
- Current-year taxes are due December 31 without interest. Unpaid balances then carry 1 percent interest a month plus costs and penalties set by Louisiana statute, and a $25.00 certified notice cost attaches after the mid-February cutoff.
- Parcel numbers, legal descriptions and assessed values for due diligence come from the Calcasieu Parish Assessor at calcasieuassessor.org, reachable at (337) 721-3000. Tax bills and payment status are searchable at snstaxpayments.com/calcasieu.
- CPSO Sheriff's Sales are court-ordered foreclosure auctions on Bid4Assets every Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. with a $1,000 deposit required to bid. They are a different sale from the annual tax auction, which runs on Zeus Auction. Sheriff's Sales questions go to (337) 491-3733.
- Property that draws no bid at the tax sale is adjudicated to the parish, and the Police Jury's Division of Planning and Development sells those parcels later at its own in-person sale.
Louisiana rules
- Redemption
- Louisiana replaced redemption with extinguishment of the lien, and the shape is different from a redemption clock. There is no date on which the owner's right lapses by itself. Any person may pay the termination price to the tax collector at any time. The holder cannot even start the enforcement suit until the later of three years from recordation of the certificate or six months after the R.S. 47:2156 notices went out, and once suit is filed the right to pay survives until the close of business on the thirtieth day after the last party was served. After that the tax collector stops accepting payment, and the lien can be extinguished only by the holder's own act or by court order: a party holding an interest may still file a contradictory motion before the judicial sale and ask the court to set the termination price, which the court fixes within 30 days and which must then be paid within 30 days more. The pressure on the holder comes from the other end. R.S. 47:2155(C) makes the right to sue peremptive at seven years from recordation, suspended while a political subdivision holds the certificate or a recorded bankruptcy stay is pending, after which the lien is extinguished and the inscription cancelled. Redemption periods that the constitution used to provide remain peremptive under R.S. 47:2241, but the amended constitution no longer provides any.
- Surplus proceeds
- R.S. 47:2267(B)(1) ranks the proceeds. The sheriff deducts the costs of the sale and any commission, then pays the plaintiff certificate holder the judgment plus judicial interest through the date of sale and reasonable costs and attorney fees, then any other tax lien certificate holders whose rights have not perempted, then holders of recorded mortgages, liens and privileges, and finally each owner according to their interest. The certificate holder is paid immediately even if the remaining parties are still arguing, and a dispute over the surplus cannot delay the sheriff's deed. Proceeds that cannot be delivered go into the registry of the court, and surplus left unclaimed for one year falls under the Uniform Unclaimed Property Act of 1997, R.S. 9:151 and following. The constitution now requires this: La. Const. art. VII, sec. 25(A)(1)(d) makes a procedure for claiming excess proceeds a minimum feature of the scheme.
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 Calcasieu County, Louisiana sell tax liens or tax deeds?
When is the Calcasieu County tax certificate sale?
How often does Calcasieu County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Calcasieu County tax sale list?
Verified Aug 25, 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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