The statutory ceiling
This rate is fixed by statute and no bidding can reduce it, so every certificate sold carries it in full. It is a ceiling only in the sense that nothing pays more. There is no statutory minimum return.
No minimum, because there is nothing to compete away
Nebraska sets no statutory minimum return because it sets no variable one either. The rate is fixed and nothing is bid at the sale, so what you earn depends on how long the certificate stays unpaid, not on what you gave up to win it.
How interest accrues
Interest runs at 14 percent per year on the sum stated in the certificate, from the date of purchase to the date of redemption. Because the certificate sells for exactly the taxes, delinquent interest, and costs due, the rate runs on the whole amount the buyer paid; no premium exists to dilute it. Subsequent taxes the holder pays on the parcel are added to the certificate and earn the same 14 percent from the date of each payment. Nebraska sets no minimum return and no penalty floor, so a certificate redeemed a week after the sale earns roughly a week of interest and nothing more. The redemption figure also carries back the twenty five dollar certificate issuance fee and the one hundred fifty dollar administrative fee charged to the owner when the certificate is issued.
Why nothing is bid at this sale
There is no bidding at a Nebraska tax sale, so a zero bid is not a thing that can happen. Neb. Rev. Stat. 77-1807(2)(c) says the person who offers to pay the amount of taxes, delinquent interest, and costs due on a parcel is the purchaser, which fixes the price at the payoff figure, and Neb. Rev. Stat. 45-104.01 fixes the rate at 14 percent for everyone. What the sale allocates is access to parcels. The treasurer announces the bidding rules at the opening of the auction and those rules bind every bidder for the whole sale. Where the sale runs in the round robin format the statute spells out, the treasurer counts the registered bidders present, puts one sequentially numbered ticket per bidder in a receptacle, draws every ticket by hand, and the number on a bidder's ticket sets the order in which that bidder may take one parcel per round. Rounds repeat until every listed parcel is sold or every bidder has consecutively passed, and a bidder who is not present when their turn comes is treated as having passed. Bidders arriving after a round has started join at the end of the next round. Registration is with the county treasurer before the sale, costs a non refundable twenty five dollars, and a foreign corporation must show it maintains a registered agent for service of process with the Secretary of State. One exception overrides everything: if a municipal land bank gives an automatically accepted bid under Neb. Rev. Stat. 18-3417, the land bank is the purchaser and no public or private auction is held on that parcel at all.
When the certificates sell
One public sale a year in every county, held on the first Monday of March. The treasurer makes out the list of real property subject to sale and the accompanying notice not less than four and not more than six weeks before that date, publishes the list once a week for three consecutive weeks in a legal newspaper starting the first week in February, posts a copy in the treasurer's office, and adds a twenty dollar advertising charge to each parcel. The sale opens on the day named in the notice and continues from day to day, Sundays and holidays excepted, until every listed parcel has been sold or offered. The treasurer also files the county's list with the Property Tax Administrator, who publishes a compiled statewide list on the Department of Revenue website.
The headline figure is a ceiling, not a forecast. To see what a certificate actually pays over a real holding period, run the numbers in the yield calculator, and compare Nebraska against other states on interest rates by state.
Verified Aug 23, 2026 against Nebraska statutes.
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.