Dawson County, MT tax sales
Tax Sale Atlas maps the Dawson 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 Dawson County, seat of Glendive: 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
- No tax deed auction is scheduled and no calendar is published.
- Format
- In person
- Registration
- There is no standing registration process.
- County office
- (406) 377-3026
On this page
How Dawson County sells delinquent taxes
Tax certificate sale (lien)
- Run by
- Dawson County Treasurer
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- No auction is held and no sale date is published.
When it runs
Registration and deposit
There is no bidder registration, no deposit and no auction account, because there is no auction. To take an assignment, call the Dawson County Treasurer at (406) 377-3026, identify the parcel and ask for the amount required. Montana then requires the buyer to mail notice to the person the property is assessed to at least two weeks before paying, no earlier than August 15 and no more than 60 days before the assignment is purchased, and to give the Treasurer proof of that mailing. The buyer pays the delinquent taxes plus penalties, interest and costs, and the Treasurer issues a signed assignment certificate and files a copy with the Clerk and Recorder. Dawson County has not posted an assignment request form, an assignment fee or a priority policy, so confirm the current paperwork and cost with the office before mailing notice on a parcel.
Sale format and venue
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Dawson County Treasurer
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- No tax deed auction is scheduled and no calendar is published.
- Registration
- There is no standing registration process.
When it runs
Registration and deposit
Sale format and venue
Dawson County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Dawson 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.
Get the advertised list
Use Montana public notice search (Glendive Ranger-Review legals) for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.Register to bid
Sale day
No tax deed auction is scheduled and no calendar is published. 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.Confirm with the office
If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use Dawson County Treasurer as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Dawson County
4 checks
Start with the live sale list
Pull the current advertised parcels from Montana public notice search (Glendive Ranger-Review legals). Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.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.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
unsold liens and deeds
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)
County notes
- Montana runs no tax lien auction, and Dawson County is no exception. The delinquent tax lien attaches to the county itself by the first working day in August, and a private investor acquires it only by assignment from the County Treasurer under Mont. Code Ann. 15-17-323.
- Dawson County publishes no online list of tax lien or delinquent parcels. The list of every property with delinquent taxes is kept on file at the Treasurer's counter in the courthouse and is open to public inspection, and the annual notice of pending attachment runs in the county's qualified newspaper on or before the last Monday in June. Expect to call or visit the office to get parcel numbers and payoff amounts.
- The notice requirement sets the timing, not a sale date. A buyer must mail notice to the person the property is assessed to at least two weeks before paying the county, no earlier than August 15 and no more than 60 days before purchasing the assignment.
- Dawson County has not posted an assignment priority policy or an assignment fee schedule. Montana requires the Treasurer to adopt a policy for choosing among competing requests on the same parcel, so ask the office how it ranks buyers before you spend money on notice.
- Delinquency carries a 2 percent penalty plus interest of 5/6 of 1 percent per month until paid, which is the yield an assignee steps into. Real estate tax installments fall due November 30 and May 31, and mobile home installments May 31 and November 30.
- No online auction platform is involved anywhere in this process. Assignments are handled in person, by phone and by mail through the Treasurer's office in Glendive.
Montana rules
- 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.
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.
Frequently asked questions
Does Dawson County, Montana sell tax liens or tax deeds?
When is the Dawson County tax certificate sale?
How often does Dawson County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Dawson County tax sale list?
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.
More Montana counties
Browse all 56 Montana counties
Compare sale calendars, platforms, and rules across the state, or read the guides before you bid.