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Tax Sale Atlas

Kingsbury County, SD tax sales

How tax lien and tax deed sales work in Kingsbury County, seat of De Smet: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.

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

Next sale
No fixed annual date.
Format
In person
Registration
Set county by county.
County office
605-854-3411
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Aug 31, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page

How Kingsbury County sells delinquent taxes

Tax certificate sale (lien)

In person
Run by
Kingsbury County Treasurer
Frequency
annual
Registration
There is no online registration and no bidding portal.
Next expected
on the third Monday in December, 2026 (window; exact date posts closer to the sale)
When it runs
Third Monday of December each year, between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., at the Kingsbury County Courthouse in De Smet. The treasurer may adjourn the sale from day to day until every certificate has been offered.
Registration and deposit

There is no online registration and no bidding portal. Bidders appear in person at the courthouse on sale day. A valid bid covers the full delinquent taxes, interest and costs and states the lowest annual interest rate the bidder will accept, and no rate above ten percent per year is a valid bid. Call the Treasurer at 605-854-3411 ahead of the sale to confirm what the office expects of bidders and how payment must be made.

Sale format and venue
Bidding runs the interest rate down rather than the price up. The price is fixed at the full delinquent tax, interest and costs, so there is no premium to bid, and the certificate goes to whoever names the lowest annual rate. The statute caps a valid bid at ten percent per year and sets no minimum rate, so a certificate can be bid all the way down to zero. South Dakota counties keep their own tax certificates unless the county commission adopts a resolution allowing certificates to be sold, so confirm with the Kingsbury County Treasurer whether certificates will actually be offered to outside bidders before planning a trip to De Smet. Certificates left unsold for want of bidders can be bought afterward at private sale at the Treasurer's office by paying the taxes, penalty and costs due, and a certificate the county holds can be assigned to a buyer who pays the taxes, penalty, interest and costs of sale and transfer plus every unpaid and subsequent tax. In person at the Kingsbury County Courthouse
Source: SDCL 10-23-7, Time and Place of Annual Sale, South Dakota Codified Laws· Verified Aug 31, 2026

Tax deed sale

Run by
Kingsbury County Board of Commissioners
Frequency
annual
Typical timing
No fixed annual date.
Registration
Set county by county.
When it runs
No fixed annual date. Real property the county takes by tax deed must be declared surplus and sold within one year of the deed, with notice of the sale published at least twice and the first notice not less than thirty days before the sale.
Registration and deposit

Set county by county. SDCL chapter 6-13 lets the county take sealed bids opened at a commission meeting, sell at public auction to the highest bidder, or list the property with one or more licensed real estate brokers, and it prescribes no bidder registration. Sealed bids are filed with the county's fiscal officer and opened at the time named in the published notice. The board may reject every bid, but if it accepts one it must be the highest. A county may refuse a bid from any person who is not current on all property taxes due within that county. No deposit is required on a cash sale; a buyer taking an installment contract deposits the cash portion as soon as the bid is accepted, and gets it back if the board declines to approve the sale. Confirm the bid form, the deadline and the payment terms with the county auditor.

Sale format and venue
South Dakota does not hold a separate auction of delinquent parcels. Title passes to the certificate holder once the notice of intention to take a tax deed has been served and the sixty day redemption window closes. Property that ends up with Kingsbury County is then sold as surplus property, and since February 2024 a private tax deed holder must likewise offer the property at public auction within one year and is compensated only in the same manner as a redemption. Kingsbury County publishes no standing surplus property calendar, so watch the county's official newspapers for the published notices and call the Treasurer at 605-854-3411 for what is currently in the county's hands. No online auction platform is confirmed for these sales, so verify the format in the published notice or with the office before making travel plans.
Source: SDCL 10-25-39.1, County Acquisition of Real Property and Notice of Sale Required, South Dakota Codified Laws· Verified Aug 31, 2026

Kingsbury County tax sale list and auction calendar

For Kingsbury 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.

  1. Get the advertised list

    A county sale-list URL is still being verified. Use the office and platform details on this page before relying on a copied list.

  2. Register to bid

    Set county by county. Full requirements are in the sale card above.

  3. Sale day

    No fixed annual date. 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 Kingsbury County Board of Commissioners as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.

Before you bid in Kingsbury County

  1. Start with the live sale list

    The county sale-list URL is still being verified. Use the county office contacts below and confirm the advertised parcels directly before you price a bid.

  2. Confirm registration and deposit

    Set county by county. SDCL chapter 6-13 lets the county take sealed bids opened at a commission meeting, sell at public auction to the highest bidder, or list the property with one or more licensed real estate brokers, and it prescribes no bidder registration. Sealed bids are filed with the county's fiscal officer and opened at the time named in the published notice. The board may reject every bid, but if it accepts one it must be the highest. A county may refuse a bid from any person who is not current on all property taxes due within that county. No deposit is required on a cash sale; a buyer taking an installment contract deposits the cash portion as soon as the bid is accepted, and gets it back if the board declines to approve the sale. Confirm the bid form, the deadline and the payment terms with the county auditor.

  3. Check the state rules that change the bid

    Read the South Dakota 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 South Dakota before you price the title work.

  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

Three routes exist and each runs through a county office. A certificate that stayed 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. A person may also buy the county's interest in a certificate the treasurer bid off, by paying the taxes, penalty, interest and costs of sale and transfer plus every unpaid and subsequent tax, after which the treasurer assigns the certificate and the buyer holds the rights of an original purchaser. Both routes are closed in a county whose commissioners have not waived SDCL 10-23-28.1. Separately, tax deed property the county offered 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 about certificates and the county auditor about unsold deeded parcels.

New to this path? Read how over-the-counter certificates work. Every state has its own name for what goes unsold, so check what South Dakota calls its leftover tax-sale inventory.

Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.

County offices

Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)

Kingsbury County Treasurer

605-854-3411

PO Box 166, 202 2nd St SE, De Smet, SD 57231

Official website

County notes

  • The Kingsbury County Treasurer, Michelle Longville, runs the December certificate sale, issues the certificate and later issues the tax deed. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and the office stays open over the noon hour. The Register of Deeds records the deed and is reachable at 605-854-3591, PO Box 146, De Smet, SD 57231.
  • Notice of the sale is published once during the week before the sale in the county's official newspapers. For 2026 the county commission kept The Kingsbury Journal and The Arlington Sun as Kingsbury County's official newspapers, so those two papers are where the sale notice and delinquent list appear. The county website itself carries no sale calendar or delinquent list, so watch the papers and call the Treasurer for the current year's list.
  • The published notice must give the time and place of the sale, the parcels whose taxes were still unpaid at the close of business on the first Monday of December, the owner or party taxed, and the amount due. The treasurer also mails or transmits notice to the owner of record at least fourteen days before the sale.
  • Redemption pays the amount listed on the certificate plus interest at the rate bid, running from the date of purchase, plus any later taxes the holder paid, at the same rate from the date of that payment. A holder may begin a tax deed proceeding three years after the sale date and must complete it within six years of the sale or the certificate, the tax lien and the lien for subsequent taxes are cancelled and forever barred. Certificates held by the county are not subject to that six year cutoff, and a buyer who takes assignment of a county certificate more than four years old has one year from the assignment to start the deed proceeding.
  • Before a deed issues, the holder serves a notice of intention to take a tax deed. Personal service is required on the owner of record, the person in possession and the person in whose name the property is taxed. Other interested parties, including mortgagees and lienholders, are served the same way or by publication once a week for two successive weeks in the county's legal newspapers, with mailed notice by registered or certified mail. Redemption stays open until sixty days after the affidavit of completed service is filed with the treasurer.
  • A 2024 change reshaped the exit. Anyone other than a county who takes a tax deed must offer the property at public auction within one year of the deed, and the seller is compensated only in the same manner as a redemption, with the remaining proceeds distributed like other sale proceeds. Treat a Kingsbury County certificate as an interest position rather than a route to owning the land cheaply.
  • Delinquent parcels cannot be paid through the county's online tax portal, so the exact payoff on a target parcel has to be confirmed with the Treasurer by phone, mail or in person. Card payments carry a convenience fee, and the courthouse has a secure drop box on its south side.

South Dakota rules

Max interest rate
10% per year, bid down at auction
Minimum return
No statutory minimum; interest accrues at your bid rate
Redemption
There is no fixed redemption deadline that starts at the sale. 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.
Deed deposit
Chapter 6-13 sets no deposit for a cash sale. 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.
Surplus proceeds
The county first deducts the expenses of taking the tax deed and of the sale. 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.
Governing statute
SDCL Title 10, Chapter 10-23

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.

See the full South Dakotarules and every county →

Frequently asked questions

Does Kingsbury County, South Dakota sell tax liens or tax deeds?

Kingsbury County follows South Dakota's tax lien state system.

When is the Kingsbury County tax certificate sale?

Third Monday of December each year, between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., at the Kingsbury County Courthouse in De Smet. The treasurer may adjourn the sale from day to day until every certificate has been offered. The sale is held in person. Always confirm the exact date with the County Treasurer before the sale.

How often does Kingsbury County hold tax deed sales?

Kingsbury County holds its tax deed sale once a year. No fixed annual date. 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. South Dakota's redemption rule: Open until a tax deed issues; a deed cannot be sought until 3 years after the certificate sale, and redemption then runs until 60 days after completed service of the notice of intention. Call the Kingsbury County Board of Commissioners 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.

Verified Aug 31, 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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