St. Clair County, MO tax sales

County offices

County notes

• •The Collector publishes the list of properties subject to sale in the St. Clair County Courier for three consecutive weeks before the sale, and also posts it online from early July and refreshes it once a week until sale day. Delinquent taxes with penalty, interest and costs can be paid at any time before the sale, so parcels drop off each week. Confirm a target parcel is still on the list close to sale day.
• •Cost of sale is added per parcel and climbs with the offering: about $87.75 on a first offering parcel, $147.75 on a second offering and $207.75 on a third offering, on top of the delinquent tax, fees and interest that set the opening bid.
• •Most of the 2026 inventory is small platted lake lots in the Twin Oak Harbor subdivision near Osceola with total payoffs under $300, alongside a shorter list of acreage tracts and town lots in Lowry City and Monegaw Springs running into the low four figures. Do the access, buildability and lot value work before bidding on the cheap lots.
• •Redemption on a first or second offering runs one year from the sale date, or until a collector's deed issues. The owner pays the certificate amount plus 10 percent annual interest, any subsequent taxes the holder paid plus 8 percent annual interest, a fifty cent redemption charge, and the reasonable cost of the title search and notice postage if those were incurred after March 1 following the purchase. A third offering purchase redeems on the same terms within 90 days.
• •A certificate of purchase can be assigned, but only to another Missouri resident who owes no delinquent tax, and the assignment must be notarized and presented to the Collector's office to be recorded.
• •The Collector's online tax payment site is closed each year from July 1 through August 28 while the sale is prepared. Payoffs and questions in that window go through the office at 417-646-2486 or in person at 655 2nd St. in Osceola, open Monday through Friday 8:00 to 4:30.
• •The Collector points bidders to the county GIS parcel viewer for property lookup and posts the access details alongside the tax sale list, which is the fastest way to put a parcel number on a map before the sale.

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.

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