Stone County, MO tax sales

County offices

County notes

• •The sale is held in the Commission Room at the Stone County Courthouse, 108 East 4th Street in Galena, not in the Collector's office.
• •Bidding is limited to Missouri residents unless the buyer files a Consent to Jurisdiction and appoints a Stone County resident as agent for service of process, with the County Clerk named as fallback agent if the appointed agent will not serve.
• •The Grand Total printed for each parcel on the sale list is the opening bid: the delinquent tax plus a $75 publication fee, a $0.75 clerk and certificate fee and a $24 recording fee.
• •The Collector posts after sale ledgers going back to 2021, each showing sale price, surplus and buyer for every parcel, plus the offering number, so a bidder can see which tracts have already failed to sell once or twice.
• •The 2025 ledger marks 28 parcels as second offerings and 8 as third offerings, so a meaningful share of the annual list is repeat inventory rather than fresh delinquency.
• •A separate Trustee Properties list covers roughly 54 tracts the county holds after a third offering drew no bid, with taxes shown year by year, and several carry a decade or more of unpaid tax.
• •The Collector publishes sample forms for the whole life cycle of a certificate, including the certificate of purchase, the assignment and assignee affidavit, the collector's deed and third offering deed, the redemption affidavit and the oversurplus reimbursement claim.
• •The Real Estate Deputy and the Deputy Collector are both listed as handling tax sale questions, and the office keeps a real estate lookup for checking what a listed parcel owes before sale day.
• •Original tax statements go out in early November, payment is due by December 31, and taxes become delinquent on January 1.

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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