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Tax Sale Atlas

Chouteau County, MT tax sales

Tax Sale Atlas maps the Chouteau County, MT tax sale, one of 2,862 counties in 36 states. Montana sells tax lien certificates paying up to 10%. Sale office, calendar and list locations read from state rules plus what the county publishes on Sep 11, 2026.

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

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

Next sale
Nothing is scheduled in advance.
Format
In person
County office
(406) 622-5032
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Sep 11, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page
Look up a sale detail

County Treasurer. In person at the county treasurer's office during regular office hours. Mont. Code Ann. 15-18-220(6) permits a county to conduct the auction electronically but does not require it, and there is no statewide platform.. As applied for. There is no deed sale calendar, and most parcels never reach an auction at all.

Record quality: medium. Last verified: 2026-09-11.

Mont. Code Ann. 15-18-220 - Sale at public auction, notice of auction, cancellation of assignment for unsuccessful auction, foreign entity prohibition (source accessed 2026-09-10)

Recorded reference information. Verify current sale conditions with the county. Read the full sale details.

Link to this detail

How Chouteau County sells delinquent taxes

Tax certificate sale (lien)

In person at the county treasurer's counter, or by mail or email where the county allows it. Montana holds no tax lien auction, so there is no online bidding platform, no registration portal and no vendor to sign up with.
Run by
Chouteau County Treasurer
Frequency
annual
Typical timing
Montana holds no tax lien auction, so there is no sale day to attend in Chouteau County.
Registration
There is no auction, no bidder registration, no deposit and no platform account.
When it runs
Montana holds no tax lien auction, so there is no sale day to attend in Chouteau County. The Treasurer's notice of pending attachment must be first published or posted "on or before the last Monday in June," and the Treasurer attaches the county's tax lien "no later than the first working day in August." Assignments to private buyers follow from mid August: the certified mail notice an investor has to send the assessed owner may not be dated "earlier than August 15" and must go out at least 2 weeks before payment and no more than 60 days before the purchase, so the earliest a Chouteau County lien can change hands is late August. Liens nobody takes stay available through the rest of the year until they are assigned or redeemed.
Registration and deposit

There is no auction, no bidder registration, no deposit and no platform account. Mail the person to whom the property was assessed a notice of pending assignment by certified mail, using the form printed at Mont. Code Ann. 15-17-323(6) with the owner of record, mailing address, legal description, parcel number and date of notice. Send it no earlier than August 15, at least 2 weeks before you pay and no more than 60 days before the purchase. Then bring proof of that mailing to the Chouteau County Treasurer and pay the delinquent taxes, penalties, interest and costs in full. The Treasurer signs an assignment certificate, mails a copy to the assessed owner and files a copy with the Clerk and Recorder. Chouteau County does not post its assignment fee, its accepted payment forms or its written policy for competing requests, so call the Treasurer at (406) 622-5032 before you mail any notice.

Sale format and venue
Chouteau County assigns the county's tax lien rather than auctioning it, so there is no bidding platform, no premium bid and no interest rate to bid down. Under Mont. Code Ann. 15-17-125 the Treasurer attaches the lien and the county becomes its possessor; Mont. Code Ann. 15-17-323 then requires the Treasurer to assign that lien to any person who gives the owner the statutory notice and pays the delinquency in full. The county publishes no online delinquent tax list and no parcel list of its own. State law keeps the list of every property carrying delinquent taxes on file in the Treasurer's office, open to public inspection, and the annual notice of pending attachment runs in the local newspaper by the last Monday in June, so working a parcel here starts with a phone call to (406) 622-5032 or a visit to the counter at 1308 Franklin Street in Fort Benton. Mont. Code Ann. 15-17-323(1)(b) directs every Montana treasurer to write a policy for the case where two or more buyers seek the same lien; Chouteau County does not publish its version, so ask the office for it and for the current assignment fee before you commit to a parcel.
Source: Mont. Code Ann. 15-17-323 - Assignment of rights, form· Verified Sep 11, 2026

Tax deed sale

In person at the county treasurer's office during regular office hours. Mont. Code Ann. 15-18-220(6) permits a county to conduct the auction electronically but does not require it, and there is no statewide platform.
Run by
County Treasurer
Frequency
As applied for. There is no deed sale calendar, and most parcels never reach an auction at all.
Typical timing
Nothing is scheduled in advance.
When it runs
Nothing is scheduled in advance. Once the redemption period runs out, 3 years after attachment or 2 years for an unimproved subdivided lot with delinquent improvement district assessments, the path forks on what is standing on the parcel. Ordinary property is deeded straight to the assignee under Mont. Code Ann. 15-18-211 for a 25 dollar deed fee plus the county's notice costs, with no auction and no bidders. Property with a dwelling currently occupied by the legal titleholder of record goes to a public auction instead: the assignee files a tax deed application with the treasurer after the redemption period expires, and the treasurer must hold the auction in the county within 60 days of receiving it. The treasurer publishes the auction notice with the date, time, location, legal description, deposit requirement and minimum opening bid. The auction runs during the treasurer's regular office hours and may be conducted electronically.
Registration and deposit

Bidders at a Montana tax deed auction do not pre-register, but three requirements bind at the auction itself. An entity must give the treasurer written proof that it is a domestic entity before the treasurer will accept its opening bid, and a foreign entity may not buy at all. The high bidder posts a nonrefundable deposit at the time of sale of 5 percent of the bid or 200 dollars, whichever is greater, applied to the price on full payment, and the treasurer may ask bidders to show they can post it. Full payment of the purchase price plus the treasurer's auction costs is due within 24 hours of the sale, excluding weekends and legal holidays, and a bidder who misses it loses the parcel to the next highest bidder. Confirm the accepted payment methods with the county treasurer before the auction opens.

Sale format and venue
The opening bid is the amount needed to redeem the lien, plus everything the assignee paid on application, plus the tax deed and recording fees, plus an amount equal to half the most recent assessed value of the land and of the dwelling. An independent appraisal meeting Montana Board of Real Estate Appraisers standards and conducted within 6 months may stand in for the assessed value. The treasurer may not take a bid below that figure. The half-value component, and anything bid above the opening bid, is surplus: the treasurer repays the assignee first where someone else buys, then pays the surplus to the legal titleholder of record within 30 days. If nobody bids, or no bidder pays, or the assignee wins and fails to pay inside the 24 hours, the treasurer cancels the assignment and files a notice of cancellation, and the investor loses the lien position entirely. The owner may redeem right up to the day of the auction.
Source: Mont. Code Ann. 15-18-220 - Sale at public auction, notice of auction, cancellation of assignment for unsuccessful auction, foreign entity prohibitionMont. Code Ann. 15-18-220· Verified Sep 10, 2026

Chouteau County tax sale list and auction calendar

For Chouteau 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. If the parcels on this list are vacant land rather than houses, what buying land at a tax sale hands you is the place to start.

  1. Get the advertised list

    Chouteau County publishes no tax sale list online. The County Treasurer advertises the parcels ahead of the sale rather than posting them, so the list reaches bidders through the county legal newspaper and the office itself. Call (406) 622-5032 to ask for the current advertisement.

  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

    Nothing is scheduled in advance. 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 Treasurer as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.

Before you bid in Chouteau County

  1. Start with the live sale list

    There is no online list to price against. Chouteau County advertises the parcels before the sale rather than posting them, so get the advertisement from the office on (406) 622-5032 and price from the parcel numbers it carries.

  2. Confirm registration and deposit

    Bidders at a Montana tax deed auction do not pre-register, but three requirements bind at the auction itself. An entity must give the treasurer written proof that it is a domestic entity before the treasurer will accept its opening bid, and a foreign entity may not buy at all. The high bidder posts a nonrefundable deposit at the time of sale of 5 percent of the bid or 200 dollars, whichever is greater, applied to the price on full payment, and the treasurer may ask bidders to show they can post it. Full payment of the purchase price plus the treasurer's auction costs is due within 24 hours of the sale, excluding weekends and legal holidays, and a bidder who misses it loses the parcel to the next highest bidder. Confirm the accepted payment methods with the county treasurer before the auction opens.

  3. Check the state rules that change the bid

    Read the Montana due-diligence checklist before bidding. Redemption, liens that survive a tax deed, title cleanup, and payment deadlines can change what a parcel is worth. Which liens survive is state law, so read what survives a tax deed in Montana before you price the title work.

  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

Every Montana tax lien is effectively over the counter, because assignment is the only way one is ever acquired. The county holds each lien from the day it attaches, and the treasurer must assign it to any person who mails the assessed owner the statutory notice and pays the delinquent taxes, penalties, interest and costs plus the county's assignment fee. After the late August allocation step, whatever is left sits with the treasurer and can be assigned on demand for the rest of the year, subject to the same notice rules: not earlier than August 15, mailed at least 2 weeks before payment and no more than 60 days before it. Older tax years are assignable the same way. Separately, land the county itself took by tax deed is sold at a public auction the county commissioners must order within 6 months of acquiring title, at a price the board fixes in advance, with the list of lands and the time and place published by the county clerk. That county land auction is not a tax lien or tax deed sale and the delinquent taxpayer may repurchase up to 24 hours before the first offering.

New to this path? Read how over-the-counter certificates work. Every state has its own name for what goes unsold, so check what Montana calls its leftover tax-sale inventory.

Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.

County offices

Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)

Chouteau County Treasurer

(406) 622-5032

PO Box 459, 1308 Franklin Street, Fort Benton, MT 59442

Official website

County notes

  • The Treasurer's office is on the first floor of the Chouteau County Courthouse at 1308 Franklin Street in Fort Benton and takes mail at PO Box 459, Fort Benton, MT 59442. The same office handles delinquent payoffs, the delinquent property list and lien assignments, so one phone call at (406) 622-5032 covers all three.
  • Use the statutory wording for the notice of pending assignment. Mont. Code Ann. 15-17-323(6) prints the exact form, and an assignment can be refused when the notice went out before August 15, less than 2 weeks before payment, more than 60 days before purchase, or without proof of the certified mailing.
  • An assignment buys the county's lien position, not the land. You are repaid with the statutory penalties, interest and costs if the owner redeems, or you work through the Title 15, chapter 18 tax deed steps if nobody does.
  • Chouteau County covers 3,936 square miles of north central Montana with roughly 5,700 residents across Fort Benton, Big Sandy, Geraldine and smaller communities such as Loma, Carter, Highwood and Square Butte. Parcels are spread thin, and the Fort Benton counter is the only place the delinquent list can be read, so budget travel time for diligence.

Montana rules

Max interest rate
10% per year, fixed by statute (nothing is bid)
Minimum return
No statutory floor; every certificate earns the same statutory rate
Redemption
The clock runs from attachment of the tax lien, which happens no later than the first working day in August, and it ends on the first working day in August of the third year after that. Redemption stays open for the whole period and the assignee cannot shorten it. On the residential auction track the right to redeem runs further still: the statutory notice tells the parties that a tax deed will be auctioned unless the lien is redeemed before the date of the auction, and 15-18-112(4) lets a particular tax year be redeemed until a deed has issued under 15-18-211 or 15-18-220. Interest and costs keep accruing until the day of redemption, and the county treasurer, not the assignee, calculates the payoff as of the date of payment. A redemption before the lien is assigned goes to the county; after assignment the treasurer pays the assignee.
Deed deposit
The high bidder posts a nonrefundable deposit with the county treasurer at the time of sale of 5 percent of the bid or 200 dollars, whichever is greater, and the deposit is applied to the sale price on full payment. Notice of the deposit requirement must be posted at the auction site, and the treasurer may require bidders to show they can post it. The treasurer may refuse to recognize a bid from someone who previously bid and then refused to honor the bid.
Surplus proceeds
Montana pays the owner's equity out rather than letting it be forfeited. The portion of the opening bid equal to half the most recent assessed value of the land and of the dwelling is treated as surplus funds, and so is anything a winning bid adds above the opening bid. Where the deed is bought by someone other than the assignee, the treasurer first repays the assignee the amount paid for the assignment, including delinquent taxes, penalties, interest and costs, plus everything paid on the tax deed application under 15-18-219(2). The treasurer then distributes the surplus to the legal titleholder of record within 30 days of receiving payment from the purchaser, whether or not the titleholder lives in Montana. On the ordinary non-auction track there is no sale, no bidding and no surplus: the assignee receives the deed itself.
Governing statute
Mont. Code Ann. Title 15, ch. 17

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 Montanarules and every county →

Frequently asked questions

Does Chouteau County, Montana sell tax liens or tax deeds?

Chouteau County follows Montana's tax lien state system.

When is the Chouteau County tax certificate sale?

Montana holds no tax lien auction, so there is no sale day to attend in Chouteau County. The Treasurer's notice of pending attachment must be first published or posted "on or before the last Monday in June," and the Treasurer attaches the county's tax lien "no later than the first working day in August." Assignments to private buyers follow from mid August: the certified mail notice an investor has to send the assessed owner may not be dated "earlier than August 15" and must go out at least 2 weeks before payment and no more than 60 days before the purchase, so the earliest a Chouteau County lien can change hands is late August. Liens nobody takes stay available through the rest of the year until they are assigned or redeemed. The sale is held in person. Always confirm the exact date with the County Treasurer before the sale.

How often does Chouteau County hold tax deed sales?

Chouteau County holds its tax deed sale As applied for. There is no deed sale calendar, and most parcels never reach an auction at all. Nothing is scheduled in advance. 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. Montana's redemption rule: 3 years from attachment of the tax lien, ending on the first working day in August; 2 years for a subdivided residential or commercial lot with delinquent improvement district assessments and no habitable dwelling or commercial structure. Call the County Treasurer 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 Sep 11, 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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Compare sale calendars, platforms, and rules across the state, or read the guides before you bid.

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Call Chouteau County Treasurer