The statutory ceiling
This is the maximum. Bidders compete by bidding the rate down at the sale, so the rate you actually earn is set at the auction and is often lower. The bidding stops at 8.4%, which the statute will not go below, so that is the least any certificate here can earn. It never falls below 5% on redemption.
The minimum you can earn
On redemption the certificate pays the rate bid or 5% of the face amount, whichever is greater. A bid of 0% is not possible here: the auction will not accept a rate below 8.4%, so every certificate carries at least that.
How interest accrues
Interest runs on the face value of the tax lien certificate at the monthly rate set by the winning bid, on a noncompounding basis, from issuance of the certificate. Face value is the delinquent statutory impositions plus the interest and costs that had accrued before the certificate issued, plus the clerk of court recording cost, and it deliberately excludes the 5 percent penalty. Because the auction price is fixed at face value there is no premium anywhere in the transaction, so the rate applies to every dollar the investor paid. The 1 percent per month ceiling is 12 percent a year and the seven tenths of one percent floor is 8.4 percent a year. Subsequent taxes are treated differently and better: under R.S. 47:2160.1(B)(2) a holder who pays a later year of statutory impositions adds them to the debt with their own 5 percent penalty and interest at the full 1 percent per month, whatever rate was bid on the original certificate.
How far the rate can be bid down
No Louisiana certificate can be bid to zero. R.S. 47:2154(C) fixes the auction price at the face value of the tax lien certificate, and (D)(1) makes the monthly interest rate the only subject of the bidding. Bidding opens at the statutory ceiling of 1 percent per month and falls in increments of one tenth of one percent, which is 12 percent a year falling in 1.2 percent steps, and (D)(2)(b) refuses any bid that would take the rate below seven tenths of one percent per month. The worst rate a winning bidder can accept is therefore 8.4 percent a year. Where several bidders reach the same lowest rate, the first bid submitted wins, so at a competitive parcel the contest is decided on speed rather than on price. A lien nobody bids on is not passed over: the tax collector records the certificate in favor of the political subdivision, and that certificate earns the full 1 percent per month.
When the certificates sell
No statute fixes an auction date. R.S. 47:2127(D) requires the lien to be offered once the taxes have gone 90 days past delinquency, which falls around April 1, and R.S. 47:2154(A)(1) requires the tax collector to advertise the auction on or before May 1 of the year following the year of assessment, or as soon after that as possible. R.S. 47:2153(A) starts the chain earlier, with a certified mail notice of delinquency to every tax notice party no later than the first Monday of February. The auction runs on a weekday with bidding opening no earlier than 8:00 a.m. and closing no later than 8:00 p.m.; an online auction may run over several days so long as all bidding closes inside those hours on a weekday. Confirm the date with the tax collector, because none of these dates is the auction date.
The headline figure is a ceiling, not a forecast. To see what a certificate actually pays after the rate is bid down, run the numbers in the yield calculator, and compare Louisiana against other states on interest rates by state.
Verified Aug 24, 2026 against Louisiana 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.