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Tax Sale Atlas

McCook County, SD tax sales

How tax lien and tax deed sales work in McCook County, seat of Salem: 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
There is no fixed annual date.
Format
In person
Registration
Set county by county.
County office
605-425-2721
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Aug 31, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page

How McCook County sells delinquent taxes

Tax certificate sale (lien)

In person
Run by
McCook County Treasurer
Frequency
annual
Typical timing
McCook County follows the single statewide sale date.
Registration
There is no online bidder portal and no county registration form to file.
Next expected
on the third Monday in December, 2026 (window; exact date posts closer to the sale)
When it runs
McCook County follows the single statewide sale date. SDCL 10-23-7 directs that "On the third Monday of December in each year, between the hours of nine a.m. and four p.m. the treasurer shall offer at public sale at the courthouse a tax certificate for any real property that is liable for taxes of any description for the preceding year or years, and that remains due and unpaid," and it lets the treasurer adjourn the sale from day to day until all the tax certificates have been offered. The county posts no separate sale calendar, so confirm the current year's arrangements with the Treasurer's office in Salem at 605-425-2721.
Registration and deposit

There is no online bidder portal and no county registration form to file. Bidding happens in person at the courthouse in Salem on the sale date, and the Treasurer settles with the winning bidder directly. Because South Dakota law lets a county keep every certificate unless its commissioners have voted otherwise, call the Treasurer at 605-425-2721 before the sale to confirm whether certificates will be offered to outside bidders and what form of payment the office takes.

Sale format and venue
Bidding sets the interest rate, not the price. Under SDCL 10-23-8 a bidder offers the full amount of taxes, interest and costs due and states the lowest annual interest rate at which the bidder will carry the taxes, and the lowest rate stated is the best bid. The statute caps a valid bid at ten percent per year and sets no minimum, so nothing in the law stops competitive bidding from driving a rate down to zero. The county commission may set a fee of up to fifty dollars that is deducted from the holder's proceeds when a certificate is redeemed, and that fee is never charged to the property owner. Certificates that draw no bidder are sold afterward at private sale in the Treasurer's office to anyone who pays the taxes, penalty and costs due under SDCL 10-23-12, and SDCL 10-23-28 lets a buyer take an assignment of a certificate the county already holds. Both of those routes sit under SDCL 10-23-28.1, which bars a county from selling any tax certificate unless the board of county commissioners adopts a resolution waiving that prohibition, and without that resolution the county is the holder of every certificate the treasurer issues. McCook County publishes no such resolution, and its commission minutes of December 9, 2025 record the state's attorney advising the county to begin the tax deed process on a parcel carrying several years of delinquent taxes, which is the route a county takes when it holds the certificate itself. Treat outside participation as unconfirmed until the Treasurer says otherwise.
Source: SDCL 10-23-7, Time and place of annual sale, adjournment from day to day, South Dakota Legislature· Verified Aug 31, 2026

Tax deed sale

Run by
County Treasurer issues the deed; the county then sells the property under SDCL chapter 6-13, commonly through the county auditor
Frequency
as needed
Typical timing
There is no fixed annual date.
Registration
Set county by county.
When it runs
There is no fixed annual date. A tax deed sale happens parcel by parcel once a tax deed has issued. The certificate holder, which in most counties is the county itself, may begin the deed process no sooner than three years and no later than six years after the certificate sale by serving a notice of intention to take a tax deed. Sixty days after the affidavit of completed service is filed with the treasurer, redemption ends and the treasurer prepares the deed. SDCL 10-25-39.1 then requires the county to declare the property surplus and sell it within one year, with notice published at least twice and the first publication at least thirty days before the sale. Watch the county auditor and the county's legal notices for those publications.
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
This is the sale most South Dakota bidders can actually take part in, and it is a sale of the property itself rather than of a lien. Costs of taking the deed and of the sale come out of the proceeds first, the remainder is prorated to the taxing districts until all tax and interest is paid, and any surplus goes back to the prior owner of record, or to the Unclaimed Property Division if that owner cannot be found within one hundred eighty days. A private certificate holder who takes a tax deed is under the same duty: SDCL 10-25-39.2 requires that holder to offer the property at public auction within one year and entitles the holder only to what a redemption would have paid. Title vests in fee simple but remains subject to any claim the state or county has for taxes, liens or encumbrances and to past-due installments of municipal special assessments, and counties commonly convey by quitclaim deed and expect the buyer to bring a quiet title action. The former owner has one hundred eighty days after the deed is recorded to sue to recover possession or to avoid the deed.
Source: S.D. Codified Laws 10-25-39.1 - County acquisition of real property; sale of property; notice of sale requiredSDCL 10-25-39.1· Verified Aug 27, 2026

McCook County tax sale list and auction calendar

For McCook 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

    There is 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 County Treasurer issues the deed; the county then sells the property under SDCL chapter 6-13, commonly through the county auditor as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.

Before you bid in McCook 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)

McCook County Treasurer

605-425-2721

130 W Essex Ave, PO Box 278, Salem, SD 57058

Official website

County notes

  • The sale is held in person at the McCook County Courthouse, 130 West Essex Avenue in Salem, and there is no online auction platform for it. SDCL 10-23-7 fixes the date as the third Monday of December, between nine a.m. and four p.m., and lets the treasurer adjourn from day to day until every certificate has been offered.
  • The delinquent list is advertised in print rather than online. SDCL 10-23-2 requires the treasurer to publish notice of the sale once during the week before the sale in the official newspapers of the county, and the McCook County Commission designated The Special as the official county newspaper for 2026. Under SDCL 10-23-3 that notice carries the time and place of the sale, the list of certificates to be sold, the names the taxes are assessed against or the current owner of record, and the amount of taxes due.
  • Redemption is open-ended until a deed issues. SDCL 10-24-1 lets any person redeem at any time before a tax deed is issued by paying the treasurer the sum listed in the certificate, interest on that sum at the rate the property sold for from the date of purchase, any later taxes the holder paid, and interest on those at the same rate.
  • A holder cannot move on a deed early or late. SDCL 10-25-1 allows the proceeding to begin after three years from the date of the certificate sale and at any time within six years of it. Notice of intention to take a tax deed must be personally served on the owner of record, the person in possession and the person in whose name the property is taxed; other interested parties may be served personally or by publication once a week for at least two successive weeks in the legal newspapers for the county, and mailed notice goes by registered or certified mail with return receipt requested. Under SDCL 10-25-8 the right of redemption does not expire until sixty days after the affidavit of completed service is filed with the treasurer.
  • The certificate itself expires. SDCL 10-25-16 provides that if the deed proceeding is not completed within six years after the date 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 on the county's records.
  • Taking the deed does not mean keeping the land. SDCL 10-25-39.2, effective February 2024, requires any person other than a county who acquires real property by tax deed after being issued a tax certificate to offer that property at public auction within one year of the deed, with the seller compensated in the same manner as a redemption under SDCL 10-24-1. Underwrite a South Dakota certificate as an interest position, not as a way to end up owning the parcel.
  • The Register of Deeds records the deed and sits in the same courthouse at 605-425-2701. The county website carries no tax sale page and no online tax payment portal, so parcel level delinquency figures come from the Treasurer's office.

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 McCook County, South Dakota sell tax liens or tax deeds?

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

When is the McCook County tax certificate sale?

McCook County follows the single statewide sale date. SDCL 10-23-7 directs that "On the third Monday of December in each year, between the hours of nine a.m. and four p.m. the treasurer shall offer at public sale at the courthouse a tax certificate for any real property that is liable for taxes of any description for the preceding year or years, and that remains due and unpaid," and it lets the treasurer adjourn the sale from day to day until all the tax certificates have been offered. The county posts no separate sale calendar, so confirm the current year's arrangements with the Treasurer's office in Salem at 605-425-2721. The sale is held in person. Always confirm the exact date with the County Treasurer before the sale.

How often does McCook County hold tax deed sales?

McCook County holds its tax deed sale as needed. There is 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 County Treasurer issues the deed; the county then sells the property under SDCL chapter 6-13, commonly through the county auditor 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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