When the sale is held
One 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. 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.
When taxes go delinquent
South Dakota property taxes are due on January 1 of the year following assessment. 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.
What happens after the sale
South Dakota holds no annual tax deed auction. 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.
Leftover parcels between sales
Three routes reach parcels outside the December sale, and each runs through the county. 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.
These dates are the statewide statutory schedule. The exact auction date, registration deadline, and platform are set county by county, so confirm them on the South Dakota county pages before you plan a bid. For the mechanics of the sale itself, see how to buy in South Dakota.
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.