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Tax Sale Atlas

Carbon County, PA tax sales

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

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

Next sale
DATE: September 23, 2026 TIME: 10:00 A.M. LOCATION: Carbon County Courthouse, Jim Thorpe, PA 18229.Wednesday · 2026
Format
In person
Registration
In person only, at the Bureau counter, and closed 10 days before the sale.
County office
(570) 325-3635
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Aug 10, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page

How Carbon County sells delinquent taxes

No tax lien certificate sale

Pennsylvania counties do not sell tax lien certificates to investors. The county Tax Claim Bureau holds the delinquent claim itself and later sells the property.

Tax deed sale

In person
Run by
Carbon County Tax Claim Bureau (Director Renee Roberts), created under the Pennsylvania Real Estate Tax Sale Law, Act 542 of 1947
Frequency
annual
Typical timing
DATE: September 23, 2026 TIME: 10:00 A.M. LOCATION: Carbon County Courthouse, Jim Thorpe, PA 18229.
Registration
In person only, at the Bureau counter, and closed 10 days before the sale.
Sale list
2026 Upset Tax Sale list, registration forms and Conditions of Sale (PDF)
When it runs
Upset sale annually in September, judicial sale annually in November. The Bureau's Upset Tax Sale Questions and Answers states: "Annual Sale month: September/Contact Bureau in June for actual Sale Date." The posted 2026 notice is specific: "DATE: September 23, 2026 TIME: 10:00 A.M. LOCATION: Carbon County Courthouse, Jim Thorpe, PA 18229." For the second-stage sale, the Judicial Sale Questions and Answers states: "Annual Sale month: November/Contact Bureau end of September for actual Sale Date," and the Bureau lists the judicial sale place and time as not yet set. Sale dates are advertised in the Carbon County Law Journal and The Times News, roughly 4 to 6 weeks before the upset sale and about one month before the judicial sale. Repository bidding on parcels that go unsold at both sales runs on its own calendar, described by the Bureau as tentative: sealed bids accepted December 7 to December 18, 2026 and opened the week of December 21, 2026, then a revised list moves to first-come, first-served bidding from January 4, 2027 through June 30, 2027.
Registration and deposit

In person only, at the Bureau counter, and closed 10 days before the sale. The 2026 notice reads: "All applicants must appear and register in person at the Tax Claim Bureau, provide an affidavit, and present a valid form of identification no later than 12:00 p.m. on September 11, 2026. A non-refundable $50.00 registration fee will be charged per registration form." The fee is payable to the Carbon County Tax Claim Bureau in cash, certified check, or money order only; personal and business checks are refused. Each applicant submits a signed 2026 Upset Tax Sale Bidder Registration Form plus a separate Affidavit of Bidder (notarization is not required) and shows photo ID, and every person whose name will appear on the deed must sign and appear. The Bureau cites Section 501-A(a) of the Real Estate Tax Sale Law: a bidder "must appear and register at the Bureau not less than ten (10) days before the scheduled sale." On sale day, registered bidders check in between 9:00 a.m. and 9:45 a.m. for a paddle and the final list, and the notice warns "Late arrivals will not be permitted to bid under any circumstances." Judicial sale registration follows the same 10-day in-person rule, with forms posted on the county site about a month before that sale and the fee set at that time.

Sale format and venue
IN-PERSON SALE. Carbon County runs no online bidding platform for its tax sales. The 2026 notice gives the venue as "Carbon County Courthouse, Jim Thorpe, PA 18229" at 10:00 A.M., with registration and bidding both handled in person. Bidding is oral auction to the highest bidder with a published minimum bid per parcel. Amounts on the posted list are approximate until the Bureau releases an updated list on or around September 3; the minimum bid includes the deed preparation fee, realty transfer tax, recording fee, a County Demo and Rehab Fee of $250.00 effective 1/1/2025, plus 2026 taxes and municipal liens already submitted to the Bureau. The entire purchase price is due as soon as the property is struck down, in cash, certified check, or money order, with local attorney checks accepted only on Director approval; a bidder who fails to pay has the sale voided and may be barred from later Bureau sales. There is no redemption period after the sale. The two sale stages divest differently: at the upset sale the purchaser "take[s] subject to any Real Estate Taxes, Municipal Liens, Mortgages, Federal Tax Liens, and other liens or encumbrances which are not divested by an Upset Tax Sale," while the Bureau describes the judicial sale as "a free and clear sale" where back taxes are divested, subject to an approximate one-year carve-out before the sale date and to certain federal and state liens that may survive. Realty transfer tax is figured on assessed value times the common level ratio factor times 2 percent, not on the bid. CAUTION on third-party listings: two Bid4Assets pages surface for this county and neither is the bidding venue. One is titled "NOTICE OF SALE: Carbon County, Pennsylvania - Live Tax Deed Sale, 568 Deeds," which is a notice for the live courthouse auction rather than an online auction. The other, bid4assets.com/CarbonPASheriffSales, is the Sheriff's monthly mortgage and judgment foreclosure calendar, a separate proceeding from the Tax Claim Bureau's tax sales. Research pointers the Bureau itself gives: county GIS at carbongis.maps.arcgis.com and the Mapping Department at (570) 325-8519, Tax Assessment at (570) 325-5254 for dimensions and acreage, and the Prothonotary at (570) 325-2481 for liens and judgments.
Source: Carbon County Tax Claim Bureau: 2026 Upset Tax Sale notice, bidder registration instructions, Conditions of Sale and the full parcel list (PDF)· Verified Aug 10, 2026

Carbon County tax sale list and auction calendar

For Carbon 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

    Use 2026 Upset Tax Sale list, registration forms and Conditions of Sale (PDF) for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.

  2. Register to bid

    In person only, at the Bureau counter, and closed 10 days before the sale. Full requirements are in the sale card above.

  3. Sale day

    DATE: September 23, 2026 TIME: 10:00 A.M. LOCATION: Carbon County Courthouse, Jim Thorpe, PA 18229. 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 Carbon County Tax Claim Bureau (Director Renee Roberts), created under the Pennsylvania Real Estate Tax Sale Law, Act 542 of 1947 as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.

Before you bid in Carbon County

  1. Start with the live sale list

    Pull the current advertised parcels from 2026 Upset Tax Sale list, registration forms and Conditions of Sale (PDF). Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.

  2. Confirm registration and deposit

    In person only, at the Bureau counter, and closed 10 days before the sale. The 2026 notice reads: "All applicants must appear and register in person at the Tax Claim Bureau, provide an affidavit, and present a valid form of identification no later than 12:00 p.m. on September 11, 2026. A non-refundable $50.00 registration fee will be charged per registration form." The fee is payable to the Carbon County Tax Claim Bureau in cash, certified check, or money order only; personal and business checks are refused. Each applicant submits a signed 2026 Upset Tax Sale Bidder Registration Form plus a separate Affidavit of Bidder (notarization is not required) and shows photo ID, and every person whose name will appear on the deed must sign and appear. The Bureau cites Section 501-A(a) of the Real Estate Tax Sale Law: a bidder "must appear and register at the Bureau not less than ten (10) days before the scheduled sale." On sale day, registered bidders check in between 9:00 a.m. and 9:45 a.m. for a paddle and the final list, and the notice warns "Late arrivals will not be permitted to bid under any circumstances." Judicial sale registration follows the same 10-day in-person rule, with forms posted on the county site about a month before that sale and the fee set at that time.

  3. Check the state rules that change the bid

    Read the Pennsylvania 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

Every Real Estate Tax Sale Law county keeps a repository for unsold properties: anything still unsold after a judicial sale is placed there, and the bureau must make the list available to the public during normal office hours. The bureau may, with the written consent of each taxing district where the property sits, set a minimum purchase price and accept any offer at or above it without court approval and without published notice. Consent is deemed given if a district does not respond within 60 days, and a district may require the buyer to appear before its governing body. The buyer files an affidavit with the same information a bidder registration requires. The deed conveys free and clear of all tax and municipal claims, mortgages, liens, charges and estates except separately taxed ground rents, and the bureau records it at the buyer's expense. A former owner may not buy their own property out of the repository. Prices, forms and turnaround are set county by county, so confirm the process with the tax claim bureau.

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

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County offices

Tax sale office

Carbon County Tax Claim Bureau

(570) 325-3635

County Administration Building, 2 Hazard Square, 1st Floor, Jim Thorpe, PA 18229-0037 (mail: P.O. Box 37, Jim Thorpe, PA 18229-0037)

Official website

County notes

  • County seat is Jim Thorpe. The Tax Claim Bureau is in the County Administration Building at 2 Hazard Square, 1st Floor, Jim Thorpe, PA 18229-0037, with mail to P.O. Box 37 at the same ZIP. Office hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., fax is (570) 325-5714, and the Director is Renee Roberts. The Bureau asks that email to [email protected] be used for general questions only and that delinquent tax figures and payoff quotes be requested by phone.
  • Sale lists are free on the county website and also sold in hard copy. Both the Upset and Judicial Q and A sheets quote $10.00 by mail, payable to the Carbon County Tax Claim Bureau at P.O. Box 37, Jim Thorpe, PA 18229, or $10.00 at the counter, with cost subject to change.
  • Repository bidding on parcels unsold at both the upset and judicial sales: sealed bids December 7 to December 18, 2026, opened the week of December 21, 2026, then a revised list on a first-come, first-served basis from January 4, 2027 to June 30, 2027. The Bureau marks these dates tentative and subject to change.
  • The Bureau posts an Unclaimed Excess Funds List, revised July 1, 2026, on the same Tax Claim Bureau page. It also posts Third Party Collection Information updated January 9, 2026, and Tax Lien Certificate Request forms for both real property and mobile homes.
  • Sale notices run in the Carbon County Law Journal and The Times News, roughly 4 to 6 weeks before the upset sale and about one month before the judicial sale.
  • The Carbon County Sheriff's Office holds monthly real estate foreclosure sales online through Bid4Assets at bid4assets.com/CarbonPASheriffSales, with the schedule set a year in advance. Those are debt and mortgage foreclosures, not Tax Claim Bureau tax sales, and the Sheriff's page makes no reference to the Tax Claim Bureau.

Pennsylvania rules

Redemption
Under the Real Estate Tax Sale Law there is no redemption of any property after the actual sale. The owner's last opportunity is to discharge the tax claim before the sale by paying the claim and interest, any other tax claim or judgment and interest, all accrued unpaid taxes, and the record costs, or a smaller amount the political subdivision agrees to accept. Payment before July 1 of the year following the notice of claim removes the property from the sale list entirely. Payment after that date but before the actual sale still stops the sale, though the parcel and the owner's name may already appear in the advertising.
Deed deposit
The Real Estate Tax Sale Law sets no deposit and no buyer premium. What it does require is pre-registration: anyone intending to bid at an upset or judicial sale must appear and register at the bureau no less than 10 days before the sale, once per scheduled sale, and a county may charge a fee for filing the application. The application names the applicant, and every officer, member and manager if the applicant is not an individual, and carries an affidavit that the applicant owes no delinquent real estate taxes anywhere in the Commonwealth, has no municipal utility bill more than one year outstanding, is not acting for a person barred under section 601(d), and has not let an uncorrected housing code violation stand after conviction in the last three years. A false statement is prosecutable as a second degree misdemeanor. The bureau sends the list of registered bidders to every municipality in the county at least five days before the sale.
Surplus proceeds
The bureau distributes tax-sale proceeds, after repaying costs advanced by taxing districts and its own 5 percent commission, in this order: Commonwealth tax liens, then the taxing districts in proportion to the taxes due them, then taxing districts or municipal authorities for municipal claims, then mortgagees and other lien holders in order of record priority whether or not the sale discharged them, and last the owner of the property. Before paying anything out the bureau petitions the court of common pleas to confirm the schedule of distribution, and an absolute confirmation is final and nonappealable as to every listed distributee. If no claim for the owner's balance is presented within three years of the sale, that balance goes to the taxing districts pro rata and the county keeps the interest it earned.
Governing statute
72 P.S. 5860.101 et seq.

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 Carbon County, Pennsylvania sell tax liens or tax deeds?

Tax deeds. Pennsylvania sells no tax lien certificates to investors; the County Tax Claim Bureau sells the property itself at a public tax sale.

How often does Carbon County hold tax deed sales?

Carbon County holds its tax deed sale once a year. DATE: September 23, 2026 TIME: 10:00 A.M. LOCATION: Carbon County Courthouse, Jim Thorpe, PA 18229. 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. Pennsylvania's redemption rule: None after the sale in the 65 Real Estate Tax Sale Law counties; in Philadelphia, 9 months from acknowledgment of the sheriff's deed, and 3 months in Allegheny County and Pittsburgh. Call the Carbon County Tax Claim Bureau (Director Renee Roberts), created under the Pennsylvania Real Estate Tax Sale Law, Act 542 of 1947 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.

Where can I find the Carbon County tax sale list?

Carbon County posts its tax sale list at carboncountypa.gov. Lists go up ahead of each sale and keep changing until the sale date, so confirm every parcel against the county's legal advertisement before you bid.

Verified Aug 10, 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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