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Tax Sale Atlas

Union County, SD tax sales

How tax lien and tax deed sales work in Union County, seat of Elk Point: 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) 356-2391
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Aug 31, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page

How Union County sells delinquent taxes

Tax certificate sale (lien)

In person
Run by
Union County Treasurer
Frequency
annual
Registration
No online bidding platform and no advance bidder registration are published.
Next expected
on the third Monday in December, 2026 (window; exact date posts closer to the sale)
Sale list
Union County commission minutes, where tax deed auction parcels and results are published
When it runs
The tax certificate sale date is fixed by state law at the third Monday in December, and Union County publishes no sale calendar, no notice and no parcel list of its own for it. The sale the county does schedule and advertise is its tax deed property auction, approved parcel by parcel by commission resolution. The board approved the 2024 auction on June 11, 2024, and the parcels were "offered for sale to the highest bidder via live auction at 10:50 a.m. CST on Tuesday July 23, 2024, in Courtroom #2 in the basement of the Union County Courthouse."
Registration and deposit

No online bidding platform and no advance bidder registration are published. Bidding is in person at the courthouse in Elk Point. At the county's 2024 tax deed auction the property was sold as is with no guarantee of condition or use eligibility, ownership transferred by quit claim deed with the buyer responsible for a quiet title action to obtain clear title, and the highest bidder paid in full at the close of the auction including deed recording fees. Confirm accepted payment methods and any sign-in step with the treasurer's office ahead of the sale date.

Sale format and venue
Ask the Union County Treasurer whether the board of county commissioners has adopted the resolution waiving SDCL 10-23-28.1 before planning to bid in December. Without that waiver a South Dakota county may not sell a tax certificate to anyone, and the treasurer bids every certificate off in the county's own name instead, so the statutory December date passes with no investor purchase. Union County publishes no such resolution, and its commission minutes instead record a long standing practice of the county taking property to tax deed in its own name and later reselling it at a live courthouse auction. Treat the December date as unconfirmed for investors until the treasurer says otherwise. The annual delinquent tax notice is not posted on the county website; Union County's designated legal newspapers for 2026 are the Leader Courier, the Alcester Beresford Hudson Republic and the Dakota Dunes North Sioux City Times, and the published list runs in those papers. In person at the Union County Courthouse, Elk Point
Source: Treasurer, Union County, South Dakota· 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

Union County tax sale list and auction calendar

For Union 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

    Use Union County commission minutes, where tax deed auction parcels and results are published for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.

  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 Union County

  1. Start with the live sale list

    Pull the current advertised parcels from Union County commission minutes, where tax deed auction parcels and results are published. Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.

  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)

Union County Treasurer

(605) 356-2391

209 East Main Street, Suite 220, Elk Point, SD 57025

Official website

County notes

  • Union County publishes no tax certificate sale page, no bidder registration and no delinquent parcel list online. The treasurer's office in Elk Point is the only place to confirm whether the county sells certificates to investors at all, what is on the December list, and what a certificate would cost.
  • The sale outside buyers can actually reach in Union County is the tax deed auction. The commission approves the parcels by resolution and the treasurer conducts a live auction in the courthouse basement. The 2024 auction offered a vacant lot at 306 Iowa Street in Alcester, assessed at $2,497 against $5,200 of taxes owed, and a 1.5 acre parcel south of Big Springs Church holding the old Big Springs schoolhouse, assessed at $16,939 against $1,790.12 owed. Both opened at a $1,000 bid and both sold for $1,000.
  • Expect no warranty at the tax deed auction. Ownership transfers by quit claim deed, the buyer is responsible for a quiet title action to obtain clear title, property is sold as is with no guarantee of condition or use eligibility, and the winning bidder pays in full at the close of the auction including deed recording fees.
  • Prior year delinquent taxes cannot be paid through the county's online tax portal. The treasurer's page directs anyone with delinquent taxes to contact the office for the amount due, so a payoff figure comes by phone or in person, not from the website.
  • The treasurer's office is temporarily at 122 W Main Street in Elk Point while work on the courthouse is under way, with mail still going to 209 East Main Street, Suite 220. Confirm the auction location before travelling.
  • The county auditor, at 209 East Main Street, Suite 200, Elk Point, (605) 356-2101, keeps the commission agendas and minutes where tax deed auction resolutions and parcel descriptions are published in advance of a sale.

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

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

When is the Union County tax certificate sale?

The tax certificate sale date is fixed by state law at the third Monday in December, and Union County publishes no sale calendar, no notice and no parcel list of its own for it. The sale the county does schedule and advertise is its tax deed property auction, approved parcel by parcel by commission resolution. The board approved the 2024 auction on June 11, 2024, and the parcels were "offered for sale to the highest bidder via live auction at 10:50 a.m. CST on Tuesday July 23, 2024, in Courtroom #2 in the basement of the Union County Courthouse." The sale is held in person. Always confirm the exact date with the County Treasurer before the sale.

How often does Union County hold tax deed sales?

Union 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.

Where can I find the Union County tax sale list?

Union County posts its tax sale list at unioncountysd.gov. Lists go up ahead of each sale and keep changing until the sale date, so confirm every parcel against the county's legal advertisement before you bid.

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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South Dakota tax salesDue diligence guide
Call Union County Treasurer