Each step below is drawn from Minnesota statute, not general advice. The exact sale dates, platform, and deposit amounts are set county by county, so confirm the specifics on your county page before you register.
New here? Most beginners start with a certificate (the lien path). The deed steps below apply once you hold a certificate long enough to force a sale, or you bid directly at a tax deed auction. Not sure which is for you? Start with tax lien vs tax deed.
Learn the timeline and lien priority
Minnesota property taxes are payable in two installments. When the year's tax on a parcel exceeds $100, half is due before May 16 and half before the following October 16, with a later first-half date for some seasonal recreational and commercial property and a November 15 second-half date for qualifying agricultural property. A missed installment draws a penalty of 2 percent on homestead and 4 percent on nonhomestead property, another 2 or 4 percent if it is still unpaid on the first of the next month, then 1 percent a month through December, capped at 8 percent for homestead and 12 percent for nonhomestead property. On the first business day in January the county treasurer returns the tax lists to the county auditor, every parcel with any unpaid tax is deemed delinquent, and a further 2 percent penalty accrues at once. Interest starts the first day of January following the year the taxes came due, at the rate set under Minn. Stat. 270C.40, subd. 5, capped at 14 percent a year and reset every January 1; a county board may adopt a lower rate, and a taxpayer whose delinquency exceeds 25 percent of the prior year's school district levy pays twice the rate. Real estate taxes are a perpetual lien on the parcel and on its structures, standing timber, and minerals from the year of assessment. Understand this before you commit any money.
Collect interest or wait out redemption
Not applicable to investors. Interest on delinquent taxes runs to the county, not to a private certificate holder. It starts the first day of January following the year the taxes came due, at the rate set under Minn. Stat. 270C.40, subd. 5, which is the prime rate for the six months ending September 30 rounded to the nearest full percent, capped at 14 percent a year and reset every January 1. A county board may adopt a lower rate by resolution. A buyer at a Minnesota tax-forfeited land sale earns no statutory interest of any kind. The return comes from the property. Redemption in Minnesota runs BEFORE forfeiture and there is no redemption after a tax-forfeited land sale. The clock starts on the second Monday in May, when the county auditor bids the parcel in for the state, and it runs three years for most property. Once the parcel is unredeemed 120 days before that period ends, the county auditor gives notice of expiration of redemption, which is posted in the auditor's office, published for two successive weeks in the official county newspaper, mailed by certified mail to taxpayers, fee owners, and anyone who filed an address under Minn. Stat. 276.041, and personally served on anyone in possession of an occupied parcel. Redemption ends on the later of the end of the statutory period and 60 days after that notice is given and proof of it is filed with the auditor, and the Department of Revenue's manual states the exact forfeiture date the same way. On that date absolute title vests in the state of Minnesota. A district court can cut the period to five weeks on a city or county petition for abandoned or certain vacant property, so a parcel can reach forfeiture far sooner than three years. Forfeiture extinguishes redemption rights along with almost everything else, with one carve-out that Minn. Stat. 282.005, subd. 10 preserves in terms: rights of redemption provided under federal law, which is where an unreleased federal tax lien can still reach a parcel after the sale. The right to REPURCHASE after forfeiture, under Minn. Stat. 282.241, is a separate remedy and not a redemption right. To redeem, the owner pays The amount for which the parcel was bid in for the state, plus all subsequent delinquent taxes, penalties, and costs, plus interest on those amounts at the Minn. Stat. 279.03 rate, paid into the county treasury. There is no certificate holder to reimburse: redemption money goes to the county for the taxing districts. If they redeem, that payoff is your return; if they never do, the certificate becomes your path to the property.
Apply for a tax deed
A statutory clock ending in forfeiture, not an investor's application. Unpaid taxes are deemed delinquent on the first business day in January. On or before February 15 the county auditor files the delinquent list with the district court, which has the effect of filing a complaint against each listed parcel, and where no answer is filed the court administrator enters judgment 20 days after proof of publication and mailing. On the second Monday in May the auditor bids each parcel still under an unsatisfied judgment in for the state. The redemption period then runs, three years for most property. Once a parcel is unredeemed 120 days before that period ends, the auditor gives notice of expiration of redemption by posting, two weekly publications, certified mail, and personal service on anyone in possession. The parcel forfeits on the later of the end of the redemption period and 60 days after the notice is served and proof filed, absolute title vests in the state of Minnesota, and the auditor records a certificate of forfeiture. Only after forfeiture does the parcel reach a public auction. Two floors, in sequence, on the initial sale. The county auditor calculates and publishes both the initial price, which is the estimated market value from the most recent assessment, and the minimum bid, which is the sum of delinquent taxes, special assessments, penalties, interest, and costs assigned to the parcel. The parcel must not sell for less than the initial price for the first 30 days it is available at auction. If no buyer will pay the initial price, the price drops to the minimum bid, and no statute sets how long it stays there. If no buyer will pay the minimum bid, the state is deemed to have bought the parcel through a credit bid and it moves into the ordinary Chapter 282 disposal process. On a later Chapter 282.01 sale the floor is different again: the county board appraises the parcel and the auditor sells to the highest bidder but never for less than the appraised value, except on the alternate sale of unbuildable city or town parcels under 282.01, subd. 7a, which may go below appraised value.
Bid at the tax deed auction
The County Auditor, selling on behalf of the state, which holds title in trust for the local taxing districts. The county board classifies each forfeited parcel as conservation or nonconservation and approves and appraises the parcels offered under Chapter 282.01, and it may delegate that whole administration to the county auditor. Counties with a land commissioner run the program out of the land department. Minnesota has no statewide auction contractor: the Department of Revenue's forfeiture manual states, citing a 1956 attorney general opinion, that a county board is not authorized to employ a private auctioneer to sell tax-forfeited land at a public auction, though a county board may by resolution list and sell individual parcels through a real estate broker. sells the property at public auction to the highest bidder. Minnesota fixes no statutory bidder deposit and no statutory registration deadline. Terms are set locally, and the Department of Revenue's manual treats a cash-only initial sale as best practice because everything above the minimum bid has to stay available for surplus claims. On a Chapter 282.01 sale, parcels are sold for cash only unless the county board has adopted a resolution allowing terms. Where terms are allowed, at least 10 percent of the purchase price is due at the time of purchase and the balance runs in no more than ten equal annual installments, or under a county board policy of no more than 12 installments a year over a term of no more than ten years. Confirm the county's published terms before registering. Set by the county rather than by statute. On a cash sale the price is due as the county's published terms require, and the sale completes only on full payment plus a $25 state deed fee, after which the conveyance is issued, recorded by the county, and only then delivered to the purchaser. On a terms sale the buyer receives a county auditor's certificate rather than a deed, pays the balance in installments with interest at the Minn. Stat. 279.03, subd. 1a rate, and must keep the current taxes paid. Missing an installment, the current taxes, or any stipulated condition is a default, and on a county board resolution the state may cancel the certificate and retake the land with no right of redemption in the purchaser.
Or buy over the counter
You do not have to wait for an auction. Minnesota has a statutory over-the-counter route, and it opens only after a parcel has been offered at public auction and failed to sell. Under Minn. Stat. 282.01, subd. 7, once every parcel on the county's list has been offered, the county auditor must sell any remaining parcel to anyone offering to pay the appraised value, and the Department of Revenue's manual describes that as a private or over-the-counter sale made from the auditor's office. The parcel stays available at that price until the county board reappraises it or withdraws it from the sale list; if the board does either, the parcel has to go back through a published public auction at the revised price before it can be sold privately again. Anyone who could have repurchased the parcel under Minn. Stat. 282.012 or 282.241 may not buy it this way for less than all taxes, assessments, penalties, interest, and costs due at forfeiture plus any special assessments for improvements certified as of the sale date. Availability is county by county: whether a county holds any unsold inventory, and how it takes an offer, has to be confirmed with the county auditor or land department. Minnesota keeps no Lands Available for Taxes list of the Florida type, and there is no escheat step to wait out. Title is already in the state, held in trust for the local taxing districts, and it stays there until a sale. A parcel that draws no bid at the initial sale is deemed bought by the state through a credit bid and moves into the ordinary Chapter 282 process, where the county board classifies it as conservation or nonconservation, may convey it to a governmental subdivision for a public use, may hold and use it for a public purpose, or may put it back up for sale. Conservation-classified land cannot be sold at all unless it is first reclassified, conveyed to a governmental subdivision, released from the trust, or sold under another law.
One more step: clear the title
Winning a tax deed does not hand you marketable title. Before you can resell to a normal buyer or insure the parcel, you will usually need a quiet title action, which takes months and costs money. Fold that cost into your maximum bid and read what you actually own after a tax deed before you bid. A tax deed also does not wipe out everything: select governmental and municipal liens can survive, and a federal tax lien carries a 120-day IRS redemption right, so check what survives a tax deed too.
New to this? Start with tax lien vs tax deed and the full Minnesota walkthrough, then value a parcel with the due diligence guide.
Steps verified Aug 24, 2026 against Minnesota 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.