The statutory ceiling
This rate is set by statute rather than bid down at the sale, so every certificate sold carries it. Competition happens on price instead. It never falls below 1.5% on redemption.
The minimum you can earn
On redemption the certificate pays at least 1.5% of the face amount. Because Mississippi does not bid the rate down, that figure is not competed away at the sale.
How interest accrues
Redemption interest runs at one and one-half percent per month, or any fractional part of a month, on the taxes and costs from the date of sale, which is 18 percent per year simple. Because a fractional month counts as a whole month, a redemption on day one still owes one month of interest, so 1.5 percent is the practical floor. The redeemer also pays 5 percent damages on the taxes, but Miss. Code Ann. 27-45-1 directs the chancery clerk to pay those damages to the county and only the balance to the purchaser, so the damages are not part of the investor's return.
How the bidding works
Mississippi does not bid the interest rate down. The tax collector offers each delinquent tract to the highest and best bidder for cash, starting with 160 acres or the smaller separately described subdivision, and strikes a tract off to the state if no one will bid the whole amount of taxes and costs. Bidding above the taxes and costs is allowed, but the overbid does not earn anything and is not refunded to the investor. The tax collector reports the excess to the chancery clerk and it is paid into the county treasury, and on redemption the county keeps it.
When the certificates sell
The county tax collector holds the land sale on the last Monday of August each year, advertised for two weeks in a county newspaper after August 5. A tax collector may also elect a second sale on the first Monday of April, advertised after February 15, under the same rules.
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 Mississippi against other states on interest rates by state.
Verified Aug 6, 2026 against Mississippi 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.