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South Dakota tax lien & tax deed sales

South Dakota is a tax-lien state. On the third Monday of December the county treasurer offers a tax certificate on every parcel whose prior-year taxes are still unpaid. Read more…

A bidder must pay the full amount of taxes, interest and costs due and states the lowest annual interest rate at which the bidder will carry the debt; the lowest rate is the best bid, and no bid above ten percent per year is valid. The price is fixed, so nothing is bid up and no premium exists. One statute changes who can take part: SDCL 10-23-28.1 forbids a county to sell any tax certificate unless the board of county commissioners has adopted a resolution waiving that prohibition, and makes the county the holder of any certificate it issues otherwise. Redemption stays open until a tax deed issues, and the deed process cannot begin until three years after the sale. The rules sit in SDCL chapters 10-23, 10-24 and 10-25.

Rules verified Aug 27, 2026 against South Dakota Statutes.

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Sale type: Tax lien
Maximum rate: 10%
Over-the-counter: Available
Counties: 66 counties

Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Aug 27, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify

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Tax lien certificates

You pay the overdue taxes and receive a certificate that earns interest until the owner redeems. The rate is bid down at auction, so the winning bid is usually a proxy bid down to your floor. Compare bidding methods to see how that changes what you earn.

Bidding method: Bid down interest
Maximum rate: 10% per year, bid down at auction
Minimum return: No statutory minimum; interest accrues at your bid rate
Next expected: on the third Monday in December, 2026 (window; exact dates post per county)
Certificate life: Expires 6 years after issuance

Sale timingOne sale a year. On the third Monday of December, between nine a.m. and four p.m., the treasurer offers a tax certificate at the courthouse on each parcel liable for taxes of the preceding year or years that remain unpaid, and may adjourn the sale from day to day until every certificate has been offered. More…

The published list covers taxes unpaid as of the close of business on the first Monday of December. Notice is published once during the week before the sale in the county's official newspapers, and the treasurer also mails or electronically sends notice to each owner at least fourteen days before the sale. The date is set by statute and is the same in every county, so there is no county sale calendar to chase.

Zero-bid ruleSDCL 10-23-8 caps a valid bid at ten percent per year and states no lower limit, so nothing in the statute stops a bid of zero percent and no minimum return is guaranteed. More…

The price never moves: every bidder pays the same full amount of taxes, interest and costs due, and the only variable is the rate, so a premium cannot exist here. Read the December sale carefully before treating it as an investor auction. SDCL 10-23-28.1 forbids a county to sell any tax certificate unless the board of county commissioners has adopted a resolution waiving that prohibition, and provides that the county shall be the holder of any certificate the county issues where no such resolution exists. In that posture the treasurer still publishes the notice, still holds the sale on the third Monday of December, and then bids the certificate off in the county's name under SDCL 10-23-24, which produces no investor purchase at all. Because the date is fixed by statute it is the recurring tax-sale event a South Dakota county calendar is most likely to carry, which is why it gets mistaken for an open auction. Confirm with the county treasurer whether a waiver resolution is in force before planning around it.

Tax deed sales

A tax deed sale auctions the property itself to the highest bidder. Win, and you can take ownership, but the deed is not clean, insurable title on its own. If the parcels you are bidding on are vacant land rather than houses, see what buying land at a tax sale hands you.

Auction method: surplus property sealed bid or public auction (highest bidder)

Runs afterSouth Dakota holds no annual tax deed auction. More…

The deed step begins with a tax certificate. No sooner than three years and no later than six years after the certificate sale, the holder serves a notice of intention to take a tax deed on the owner of record, the person in possession, the person in whose name the property is taxed, any mortgagee, and any lienholder, creditor of record or other interested person shown in the register of deeds, treasurer or clerk of courts records. Sixty days after the affidavit of completed service is filed with the treasurer, the right to redeem ends and the treasurer prepares the deed. Because SDCL 10-23-28.1 leaves the county holding the certificate in any county that has not passed a waiver resolution, the county is usually the party that takes the deed. Since February 12, 2024, SDCL 10-25-39.1 has required a county that acquires property by tax deed to declare it surplus and sell it within one year, and that sale is the event an outside bidder can actually bid at. It is scheduled parcel by parcel rather than on a fixed annual date.

Run by

County Treasurer issues the tax deed; the board of county commissioners then sells the property under SDCL chapter 6-13

DepositChapter 6-13 sets no deposit for a cash sale. More…

A buyer taking an installment contract must deposit the cash portion with the fiscal officer as soon as the bid is accepted, and the board can still decline to approve the sale, in which case the deposit is returned. A separate rule bars a bidder from the sale entirely: under SDCL 10-25-45 a county may refuse a bid from any person who is not current on all property taxes due within that county. Payment methods and any county-set deposit are county practice rather than statute, so confirm them with the county before bidding.

Balance dueIf the full purchase price is paid in cash and the board approves the sale, the board directs delivery of a deed executed by the chair of the governing board and attested by the fiscal officer. More…

If less than the full price is paid in cash, the buyer receives a contract for deed instead, and real property sold on an installment contract may not go for less than ninety percent of the appraised value. The board fixes the number of installments, the payment dates and the interest rate, and the buyer may prepay the balance on any interest paying date. Default on an installment, on interest or on the property taxes lets the board end the contract and keep every payment already made as liquidated damages.

Surplus proceedsThe county first deducts the expenses of taking the tax deed and of the sale. More…

What remains is prorated to the taxing districts on the levies for the most recent year included in the proceeds until all tax and interest is paid. Any surplus left after taxes, penalty, interest, county liens and other costs must be returned to the prior owner of record, and if that owner cannot be found within one hundred eighty days the surplus is transferred to the Unclaimed Property Division under SDCL chapter 43-41B. The same distribution binds a private buyer. SDCL 10-25-39.2, effective February 12, 2024, requires any person other than a county who acquires property by tax deed after being issued a tax certificate to offer that property at public auction under chapter 6-13 within one year of the deed, and entitles that seller only to compensation in the same manner as a redemption under SDCL 10-24-1. A South Dakota certificate is therefore a route to being paid what the certificate is worth, not a route to keeping the land.

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, or check what survives a tax deed in South Dakota.

Redemption, delinquency, and over-the-counter at a glance

Redemption

How longThere is no fixed redemption deadline that starts at the sale. More…

SDCL 10-24-1 lets any person redeem at any time before a tax deed is issued. What sets the outer limit is the deed process: SDCL 10-25-1 bars the certificate holder from starting that process until three years after the certificate sale, and SDCL 10-25-8 keeps the right to redeem alive until sixty days after the affidavit of completed service of the notice of intention is filed with the treasurer. Missing that sixty-day window passes the owner's, mortgagee's and lienholder's interests to the certificate holder. After the deed is recorded, the former owner has one hundred eighty days to bring an action to recover possession or to avoid the deed, which is a limitation period rather than a further right to redeem.

What the owner paysThe sum listed in the tax certificate, plus interest on that sum at the rate the certificate sold for, running from the date of purchase, plus other taxes the holder paid later with interest at the same rate. More…

Where the deed process has begun and the treasurer received written notice and a verified statement of costs before the redemption, the costs of serving the notice of intention are added, including publication, the affidavit, the records search, locating owners and attorney fees, all capped together at four hundred dollars. No fee may be charged for the redemption itself. A certificate the county bid off is redeemed by paying all delinquent taxes with penalty and interest to the date of redemption plus the costs of advertising and selling the certificate.

Delinquency

How it startsSouth Dakota property taxes are due on January 1 of the year following assessment. More…

One half of what is unpaid becomes delinquent on May 1 and the remaining half on November 1, and any bill totaling fifty dollars or less has to be paid in full on or before April 30. From the delinquency date, interest is added on the first of each month at the Category G rate, which SDCL 54-3-16 sets at five-sixths of one percent per month or fraction of a month, so a partial month counts as a whole one. Taxes on real property, with any penalty and interest, are a perpetual lien against all persons and bodies corporate except the United States and the State of South Dakota, which is what makes a South Dakota certificate senior collateral.

Over-the-counter

How to buyThree routes reach parcels outside the December sale, and each runs through the county. More…

First, once the sale has closed and the treasurer has filed the return with the county auditor, a certificate that remained unsold for want of bidders must be sold at private sale at the treasurer's office to any person who pays the taxes, penalty and costs due. Second, a person may buy the county's interest in a certificate the treasurer bid off for the county by paying the taxes, penalty, interest and costs of sale and transfer plus every unpaid or subsequent tax, after which the treasurer assigns the certificate and the buyer holds all the rights of an original purchaser. Both of those routes are closed in a county whose board of commissioners has not adopted a resolution waiving SDCL 10-23-28.1, because that section bars the county from selling any tax certificate at all. Third, tax deed property the county offered under chapter 6-13 that drew no bid may be sold at private sale within twelve months for not less than ninety percent of the appraised value, without further publication or appraisal. Ask the county treasurer which certificates are available for assignment and the county auditor which deeded parcels went unsold.

What is availableSouth Dakota keeps no statewide lands-available list and nothing escheats to the state through this process. More…

A county that takes a tax deed must declare the property surplus and sell it within one year under SDCL 10-25-39.1, so deeded parcels are meant to move rather than to sit on a list. The county commissioners may instead reconvey the property to the record owner or the owner's assignees or successors by quitclaim deed, for consideration not less than the total principal, interest and costs of all taxes represented in the tax deed plus any other unpaid taxes.

Every state has its own name for what goes unsold, so check what South Dakota calls its leftover tax-sale inventory.

All 66 South Dakota counties

Sales are organized by county. Search your city or county, or filter by whether the tax deed sale runs online or in person. Each row shows the certificate-sale platform for quick comparison.

Frequently asked questions

Does South Dakota sell tax liens or tax deeds?

Tax liens. The county treasurer offers a tax certificate on each delinquent parcel on the third Monday of December, and the certificate goes to whoever pays the full amount of taxes, interest and costs due while naming the lowest annual interest rate. South Dakota holds no annual tax deed auction. Deeded property is sold parcel by parcel after a county takes a tax deed.

What interest rate does a South Dakota tax certificate pay?

Whatever rate the winning bidder named, up to a statutory ceiling of ten percent per year. SDCL 10-23-8 makes the lowest rate the best bid and says no rate higher than ten percent per year is a valid bid. There is no statutory floor and no minimum return, so a rate bid down toward zero earns only that rate. Interest runs on the entire sum shown on the certificate from the date of purchase, because the price is fixed and no premium can be paid.

Can an investor actually buy a South Dakota tax certificate?

Only in a county whose board of commissioners has adopted a resolution waiving SDCL 10-23-28.1. That section says no county may sell any tax certificate unless such a resolution is adopted, and that the county shall otherwise be the holder of any certificate it issues. The treasurer still publishes the notice and still holds the December sale, then bids the certificate off in the county's name under SDCL 10-23-24. Ask the county treasurer whether a waiver resolution is in force before relying on the published sale date.

See all South Dakota FAQ

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State guide8 min read

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Open any county for its sale calendar, auction platform, registration rules, and office contacts.

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