- 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.
- How long is the redemption period in South Dakota?
- There is no fixed period running from the sale. Any person may redeem at any time before a tax deed is issued. The certificate holder cannot begin the deed process until three years after the sale, and once the notice of intention to take a tax deed has been served, redemption stays open for sixty more days after the affidavit of completed service is filed with the treasurer.
- Does a South Dakota tax certificate expire?
- Yes. If a proceeding to procure a tax deed is not completed within six years of the certificate sale, the sale, the tax lien and the lien for any subsequent taxes the holder paid all cease and are forever barred, and the treasurer cancels the certificate. Commencing in time buys only six more months to complete. The six-year limit does not apply to a certificate the county holds, and a purchaser who takes an assignment of a county certificate already more than four years old gets one year from the assignment to commence.
- If a certificate holder takes a tax deed, do they keep the property?
- No. Since February 12, 2024, SDCL 10-25-39.2 has required 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. The seller is entitled only to compensation in the same manner as a redemption, and any surplus after taxes, penalty, interest, county liens and costs goes back to the prior owner of record. A South Dakota certificate is a route to being repaid with interest, not a route to acquiring land below market.
- Can you buy South Dakota tax certificates over the counter?
- Where the county commissioners have waived SDCL 10-23-28.1, yes. A certificate that stayed unsold for want of bidders must be sold at private sale at the treasurer's office to anyone who pays the taxes, penalty and costs, and the county's interest in a certificate it bid off may be bought by paying the taxes, penalty, interest and costs of sale and transfer plus all unpaid and subsequent taxes. Separately, tax deed property the county offered that drew no bid may be sold privately within twelve months for at least ninety percent of the appraised value.
- Is any South Dakota property exempt from the tax certificate sale?
- Yes. A homestead worth less than one hundred seventy thousand dollars belonging to a person seventy years of age or older, or to that person's unremarried surviving spouse, is exempt from sale for taxes for as long as it keeps the character of a homestead. The owner has to notify the treasurer before the sale that the home is occupied and that the age requirement is met, and an owner who fails to do so is held responsible for the costs of the sale and for the taxes and interest on the certificate.
- Where does South Dakota publish official guidance on the tax certificate and tax deed process?
- The South Dakota Department of Revenue keeps a guidance page for county treasurers that walks the whole sequence statute by statute, from the delinquency dates through the December sale, redemption and the tax deed. It records the same mechanics the statutes set out: the lowest interest rate prevails if there is competition, if no buyer appears the county must bid off the taxes, and every certificate carries the same third Monday in December date. The county treasurer still holds the parcel list and the local practice, so confirm both there.
Ready to act on these rules? Follow how to buy South Dakota tax liens for the registration, bidding, and post-sale sequence in order.
Verified Aug 27, 2026 against South Dakota 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.