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Tax Sale Atlas

Washington County, MO tax sales

How tax lien and tax deed sales work in Washington County, seat of Potosi: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.

New to tax sales? Read how Missouri tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.

Next sale
There is no separate deed auction.
Format
In person
County office
573-436-7701
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Aug 22, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page

How Washington County sells delinquent taxes

Tax certificate sale (lien)

In person
Run by
Washington County Collector of Revenue
Frequency
annual
When it runs
Washington County publishes no sale calendar and no bidder packet of its own, so the statute sets the date. Missouri holds the delinquent land tax sale on the fourth Monday in August, commencing at ten o'clock in the morning in or adjacent to the county courthouse, and it continues from day to day until every tract has been offered. The courthouse is at 102 North Missouri Street in Potosi. Call the Collector at 573-436-7701 to confirm the current year's date, start time and room before you travel.
Registration and deposit

The office publishes no registration form and no advance registration deadline, so contact the Collector in Potosi ahead of the sale and ask what the office wants from a bidder on the day. Under RSMo 140.190 every bidder signs an affidavit at the time of sale stating they are not delinquent on any other property tax; failing to sign it, or signing a false one, can invalidate the purchase. A nonresident bidder must file with the Collector a written agreement consenting to the jurisdiction of the Washington County Circuit Court and must appoint a citizen of the county as agent for service of process. The certificate of purchase then issues in that agent's name, the property is later conveyed to the agent, and the agent conveys it on to the nonresident. The Collector may bar a prospective bidder who does not meet these conditions. The winning bidder pays the Collector in full at the sale.

Sale format and venue
Washington County runs the Chapter 140 Jones-Munger certificate sale through the Collector of Revenue. Bidding opens at the delinquent taxes, interest, penalty and costs, and the tract goes to the highest bidder, so everything above that opening figure is premium: it earns no interest and is held as surplus for the former owner. The certificate itself earns up to 10 percent a year on the taxes and costs, and subsequent taxes the holder pays earn 8 percent. The county publishes no online bidding portal, so plan on a live auction at the courthouse and confirm the venue with the office. The delinquent list is not posted on the county website either. RSMo 140.170 requires the Collector to print it in a newspaper of general circulation in the county once a week for three consecutive weeks, with the last insertion at least fifteen days before the fourth Monday in August, which puts the published list in late July or early August. Ask the Collector's office which paper carries the notice. Redemption runs one year after a first or second offering and ninety days after a third offering, and before a Collector's Deed can issue the holder must run a title search and give the owner and every recorded lienholder ninety days notice under RSMo 140.405. The certificate dies if the deed is not executed and recorded within eighteen months of the sale.
Source: Missouri Revised Statutes 140.170 - County collector to publish delinquent land list, site of sale· Verified Aug 22, 2026

Tax deed sale

Run by
County Collector
Frequency
annual
Typical timing
There is no separate deed auction.
When it runs
There is no separate deed auction. Deeds come out of the same August sale once a parcel has cycled past the third offering, and unsold post third offering parcels are re-offered at least once every 30 days. A purchaser at a post third offering sale takes an immediate collector's deed with no redemption period.
Sale format and venue
A first or second offering buyer holds a certificate and must wait out the one year redemption period, obtain a title search, serve the 90 day notice of the right to redeem on the owner and every recorded claimant by both first class and certified mail, file the affidavit with the collector, pay all subsequent taxes and the recording fee, and get the deed executed and recorded within 18 months of the sale. Miss the 18 months and the amount due the purchaser stops being a lien. A third offering buyer follows a shorter version, with a 90 day redemption period and notice to recorded claimants within 45 days of the sale. Counties that have elected the Land Tax Collection Law in Chapter 141 pull those parcels out of the collector's offering lists entirely and foreclose in court, and the sheriff sells them there, so confirm which chapter this county runs.
Source: Missouri Revised Statutes 140.405 - Purchaser of property at delinquent land tax auction, deed issued to, when, notice of right of redemptionMo. Rev. Stat. 140.405· Verified Aug 18, 2026

Washington County tax sale list and auction calendar

For Washington County tax sale 2026 searches, use the county-run sources below rather than a copied parcel list, and confirm the parcel, registration cutoff, deposit, and payment deadline against the county before you bid.

  1. Get the advertised list

    A county sale-list URL is still being verified. Use the office and platform details on this page before relying on a copied list.

  2. Register to bid

    Ask the county office how and when to register; many counties close registration days or weeks before the sale.

  3. Sale day

    There is no separate deed auction. The sale is live and in person; there is no online bidding platform. Confirm the venue and hour with the county office before you go.

  4. Confirm with the office

    If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use County Collector as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.

Before you bid in Washington County

  1. Start with the live sale list

    The county sale-list URL is still being verified. Use the county office contacts below and confirm the advertised parcels directly before you price a bid.

  2. Confirm registration and deposit

    The office publishes no registration form and no advance registration deadline, so contact the Collector in Potosi ahead of the sale and ask what the office wants from a bidder on the day. Under RSMo 140.190 every bidder signs an affidavit at the time of sale stating they are not delinquent on any other property tax; failing to sign it, or signing a false one, can invalidate the purchase. A nonresident bidder must file with the Collector a written agreement consenting to the jurisdiction of the Washington County Circuit Court and must appoint a citizen of the county as agent for service of process. The certificate of purchase then issues in that agent's name, the property is later conveyed to the agent, and the agent conveys it on to the nonresident. The Collector may bar a prospective bidder who does not meet these conditions. The winning bidder pays the Collector in full at the sale.

  3. Check the state rules that change the bid

    Read the Missouri due-diligence checklist before bidding. Redemption, liens that survive a tax deed, title cleanup, and payment deadlines can change what a parcel is worth.

  4. Set a walk-away number

    Work out what the parcel is actually worth with the rural land value estimator, then turn it into a ceiling with the tax deed max-bid calculator.

Over-the-counter (leftover) purchases

Missouri publishes no standing over the counter certificate list. The equivalent route is the post third offering sale. Parcels that draw no buyer at a third offering must be advertised or offered again once every 30 days, and where the county's appointed trustee declines to take a parcel the collector may sell it at any time and for any amount. A buyer at any of these sales gets an immediate collector's deed, no redemption period, and must first pay every tax that fell due after the taxes named in the advertisement. Parcels the trustee did take are held for the taxing funds and sold on order of the county commission. Ask the collector for the current post third offering list and its bidding terms, because the format varies by county.

New to this path? Read how over-the-counter certificates work.

Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.

County offices

Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)

Washington County Collector of Revenue

573-436-7701

102 North Missouri Street, Suite A, Potosi, MO 63664

Official website

County notes

  • Washington County publishes no tax sale page, no sale calendar and no delinquent list on its website. The Collector's page carries contact details only, so a bidder works from the statutory August date and gets the rest by phone. The Collector is Kris Richards, reachable at 573-436-7701 or [email protected]; the courthouse main line is 573-438-6111.
  • The sale is held at the county courthouse, 102 North Missouri Street, Potosi. The Collector's mailing address is 102 North Missouri Street, Suite A, Potosi, MO 63664, and the office is open 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
  • Missouri sets this county's sale date rather than the county doing it: the fourth Monday in August at ten o'clock in the morning, in or adjacent to the courthouse, continuing day to day until every tract has been offered. Parcels are offered at whatever level they have reached, so first, second and third offerings can all run at the same August sale.
  • The delinquent list runs in a local newspaper, not on the county site. RSMo 140.170 calls for three weekly insertions in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, the last one at least fifteen days before the sale, which puts the list in print in late July or early August. Ask the Collector's office which paper carries the notice and buy that issue.
  • Bidding is a premium auction. The opening bid covers taxes, interest, penalty and costs, and anything above it is surplus held for the former owner. The premium earns nothing, so the return comes from 10 percent a year on the taxes and costs, 8 percent on subsequent taxes the holder pays, or from taking the deed.
  • A small county's August list can shrink to a handful of tracts by sale day as owners pay to keep property off it. Call the Collector in early August to learn how many tracts remain before committing to a trip to Potosi.
  • Parcel level tax detail is available on the county's property tax inquiry portal at washingtonmo.devnetwedge.com, searchable by parcel number, account number, owner name or address. Use it to price what is owed on a tract before the sale. It does not publish the sale list.
  • Deed work falls on the buyer. A first or second offering purchaser orders a title search, then mails the owner and every recorded lienholder notice of the right to redeem at least ninety days before the redemption period closes, under RSMo 140.405. Miss that notice and the Collector's Deed can be refused or later voided, and the purchase money is not returned. RSMo 140.410 voids the certificate if the deed is not executed and recorded within eighteen months of the sale.
  • Ask the Collector whether a tract you are chasing is being handled under the Chapter 141 Land Tax Collection Law, which replaces the collector's certificate sale with a court supervised sale and routes unsold parcels to a land trust. The Chapter 140 August certificate sale described here is the process the Collector's office administers.

Missouri rules

Max interest rate
10% per year, set by statute (bidding is on price)
Minimum return
No statutory minimum return; what you earn is set by the price at the sale
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.
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.
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.
Governing statute
Mo. Rev. Stat. Chapter 140

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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Frequently asked questions

Does Washington County, Missouri sell tax liens or tax deeds?

Washington County follows Missouri's tax lien state system.

When is the Washington County tax certificate sale?

Washington County publishes no sale calendar and no bidder packet of its own, so the statute sets the date. Missouri holds the delinquent land tax sale on the fourth Monday in August, commencing at ten o'clock in the morning in or adjacent to the county courthouse, and it continues from day to day until every tract has been offered. The courthouse is at 102 North Missouri Street in Potosi. Call the Collector at 573-436-7701 to confirm the current year's date, start time and room before you travel. The sale is held in person. Always confirm the exact date with the County Collector before the sale.

How often does Washington County hold tax deed sales?

Washington County holds its tax deed sale once a year. There is no separate deed auction. Each sale is scheduled and advertised in advance, so check the county's tax deed calendar for the next posted date.

I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?

Often yes, by paying the overdue taxes, interest, and costs before the deadline. Missouri's redemption rule: 1 year from a first or second offering sale, 90 days from a third offering sale, and none after a post third offering sale. Call the County Collector as early as possible for your exact payoff and options; deadlines are strict. Free help: lawhelp.org lists legal aid programs, and consumerfinance.gov lists HUD-approved housing counselors.

Verified Aug 22, 2026 against official county and state sources.

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.

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Call Washington County Collector of Revenue