Harrison County, MO tax sales

County offices

County notes

• •The treasurer serves as ex officio collector here, so one office handles current taxes, delinquent payoffs and the August certificate sale. It sits in the courthouse at 1505 Main St in Bethany, mail goes to PO Box 525, Bethany MO 64424, and the phone is 660-425-6442. Hours are 8:00 to 4:30 Monday through Friday, closed on legal holidays. Cheryl Coleman holds the office.
• •The county publishes no website, no online sale calendar and no online tax portal, so the phone is the way in. Call the office in July or early August for the sale date, the parcel list and what registration takes.
• •The published legal notice is the parcel list. The Bethany Republican-Clipper is the county newspaper, at 202 North 16th Street in Bethany, 660-425-6325, so its August legal notices are worth reading, and the office can hand you a copy of the list.
• •Missouri's State Tax Commission points buyers back to the county: each collector publishes its own information on the properties to be sold for delinquent taxes, and there is no statewide list to search.
• •A county this size sometimes holds no sale at all in a year because every delinquent parcel gets paid before the fourth Monday. Confirm the docket before you travel to Bethany.
• •Buying a certificate gives no possession and no ownership. Until a Collector's Deed issues and is recorded you cannot improve, rent or clear the property, and the owner can redeem out from under you.
• •Winning bids are due to the office when the sale closes, and the sale runs day to day until every tract is offered, so bring funds for the whole list rather than a single parcel.
• •Expect rural due diligence: check legal access, fence lines and flood exposure on farm tracts, and confirm what stands on a town lot, because the notice describes tracts and amounts, not condition.

Missouri rules

Max interest rate

10% per year, set by statute (bidding is on price)Missouri Revised Statutes 140.290 - Certificate of purchase, contents, fee, nonresidentsMo. Rev. Stat. 140.290Verified Aug 18, 2026

Minimum return

No statutory minimum return; what you earn is set by the price at the saleMissouri Revised Statutes 140.340 - Redemption, when, mannerMo. Rev. Stat. 140.340Verified Aug 18, 2026

Redemption

After a first or second offering sale, the owner and other interested parties hold an absolute right to redeem for one year, then a defeasible right that lasts until the purchaser actually acquires the deed. A purchaser must serve the 90 day notice of the right to redeem before the date on which the deed can be acquired, so the practical window usually runs past the one year mark. After a third offering sale, redemption runs 90 days, and the purchaser must give notice to recorded claimants within 45 days of the sale. After a post third offering sale, there is no redemption period and the deed issues immediately. Minors and incapacitated or disabled persons have a longer right, running five years from the last payment of taxes by that person or a predecessor. The right also ends if the certificate lapses because the purchaser failed to record the deed within 18 months.Missouri Revised Statutes 140.340 - Redemption, when, mannerMo. Rev. Stat. 140.340Verified Aug 18, 2026

Deed deposit

The winning bidder must pay the full amount of the bid to the collector immediately at the sale. Chapter 140 sets no advance bidder deposit and no balance due window. A bidder who fails to pay forfeits a penalty of 25 percent of the bid to the county school fund and the parcel is offered again at once as though no sale had been made. Counties running an online or registered sale may impose their own deposit and registration terms on top of the statute, so confirm them with the collector.Missouri Revised Statutes 140.250 - Third offering of delinquent lands and lots, redemption, subsequent sale, collector's deedMo. Rev. Stat. 140.250Verified Aug 18, 2026

Surplus proceeds

Any amount above the taxes and costs is surplus. The collector pays it into the county treasury, where the treasurer holds it in trust for the lesser of three years or 90 days after the redemption period expires. It is distributed first to the former lienholders of record in the priority their liens held on the date of the sale, then to the former owner. No distribution other than through the redemption process may occur until 90 days after the redemption period ends, and a claimant must file a written claim with the county commission within those 90 days, referencing the recorded lien it rests on. The county pays no interest on the fund. Anything still unclaimed at three years becomes the permanent school fund of the county.Missouri Revised Statutes 140.230 - Foreclosure sale surplus, deposited in treasury, escheats, proof of claimsMo. Rev. Stat. 140.230Verified Aug 18, 2026

Governing statute

Mo. Rev. Stat. Chapter 140Missouri Revised Statutes 140.150 - Lands, lots, mineral rights, and royalty interests subject to sale, whenMo. Rev. Stat. 140.150Verified Aug 18, 2026

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.

See the full Missourirules and every county →