Wisconsin sells no tax lien certificates to investors. To buy a Wisconsin tax deed you bid on the property itself, at a county auction run by the county. Review the sale terms, deed and applicable law to confirm the property interest conveyed.
Each step below is drawn from Wisconsin statute, not general advice. The exact sale dates, platform, and deposit amounts are set county by county, so confirm the specifics on your county page before you register.
New here? There is no certificate step in Wisconsin. You bid on the property itself, so the money is at risk on the parcel from day one and the research has to happen before the auction, not after. Not sure which is for you? Start with tax lien vs tax deed.
Learn the timeline and lien priority
Real property taxes are payable in full by January 31 or in two equal installments due January 31 and July 31. Miss the first installment and the entire unpaid balance is delinquent as of February 1; miss the second and the entire unpaid balance is delinquent as of August 1. Interest then runs at 1 percent per month or fraction of a month from the preceding February 1, and any county board, or the common council of a city collecting its own taxes under s. 74.87, may by ordinance add a penalty of up to 0.5 percent per month on top. The combined statutory ceiling is 1.5 percent per month, which is 18 percent a year, and none of it is compounded. That money is retained by the county treasurer for the county. Anyone may clear the delinquency at any time before the tax certificate issues. Understand this before you commit any money.
Know when the redemption right ends
Not applicable to investors. The interest runs to the county, never to a private certificate holder. It accrues at 1 percent per month or fraction of a month from the preceding February 1 under s. 74.47(1), plus up to 0.5 percent per month more where the county board or an authorized city council has adopted the optional penalty ordinance under s. 74.47(2)(a), for a combined ceiling of 1.5 percent per month or 18 percent a year, uncompounded. All of it is retained for the county under s. 74.47(3)(a). A buyer at a Wisconsin county land sale earns no interest of any kind; the return comes from the property. The redemption right in Wisconsin runs against the county, and it is over before an investor sees the parcel. Issuance of the tax certificate on September 1 starts the clock. Two years later the county may take its deed or start a foreclosure, but the right to redeem does not end on that anniversary: under s. 75.01(1)(b) any person may redeem at any time before the tax deed is presented to the register of deeds and accepted for record, and a redemption before recording makes the deed void as to the land redeemed. On the in rem route under s. 75.521 the county publishes a notice fixing the last day for redemption at least 8 weeks after first publication, and an interested party may instead serve a verified answer within 30 days after that date on the three grounds the section allows. Once the deed is recorded or judgment is entered, redemption is finished. Between the two, at least 6 and not more than 10 months before the redemption period expires, the county treasurer must publish a class 2 notice listing every unredeemed parcel with its amount due and the last day of redemption, which is the public list an investor can watch. Two things can still pull a parcel off a sale list afterward: the minor and incompetency extension in s. 75.03, and the former owner repurchase right in s. 75.35(3). To redeem, the owner pays The unpaid taxes stated in the tax certificate, plus the interest and any penalty under s. 74.47 computed from the accrual date the certificate specifies, plus any other charge the law allows to be added to the certificate after issuance. That works out to 1 percent per month or fraction of a month, plus up to 0.5 percent per month more where the county board has adopted the optional penalty ordinance, so up to 1.5 percent per month or 18 percent a year, uncompounded. Partial payments of $20 or more are allowed and do not extend the period. Where notice of application for tax deed has been served, a later redemption also pays $1.50 for each person served, or the cost of the certified mailings, plus the cost of any publication. On the in rem route the redeeming party also pays the county's reasonable costs of initiating the proceeding and a share of the publication cost. A redemption before that deadline pulls the parcel off the auction list, so confirm it is still scheduled before you travel or bid.
Learn what sends a parcel to the auction
A statutory clock the county runs against itself, not an application by a certificate holder. On September 1 the county treasurer issues a tax certificate to the county on every parcel unpaid at the close of business on August 31, and within 90 days mails notice to each owner of record. Two years after issuance, if the parcel has not been redeemed, s. 74.57(2)(b) entitles the county to take a tax deed under s. 75.14, to foreclose the certificate by action as in a case of a mortgage under s. 75.19, or to foreclose the tax lien by action in rem under s. 75.521. Before a tax deed issues on the s. 75.14 route the county must serve written notice of application for tax deed on an owner of record, on an occupant where the parcel carries an occupied dwelling or business or agricultural building, and on at least one mortgagee of each unsatisfied recorded mortgage, then wait 3 months. The county board must also pass a resolution ordering issuance. Whichever route the county takes, title lands in the county in fee simple. The investor-facing event comes afterward, when the county sells land it now owns under ss. 75.35, 75.36 and 75.69. Two steps in this sequence look like investor sales and are not: the September 1 tax certificate issued to the county under s. 74.57, and a sale of tax certificate revenues under s. 74.635, which sells a payment stream and conveys no interest in any parcel. At the first attempt to sell a parcel, every bid less than the appraised value must be rejected. Appraised value means the value determined, at the discretion of the county board, by the county board, a committee it designates, or a certified appraiser under s. 458.01(7). It is not the assessed value and it is not the unpaid tax, so the floor can sit above or below what was owed. After that first offering the county may sell previously advertised land for any amount, but only after a further class 1 notice, and only where the county board or its designated committee has reviewed and approved a price below appraised value. Accepting anything less than the highest bid also requires a written statement, open to public inspection, explaining the reasons. A county may sell by open or closed bid, so the same county can run an online auction one year and a sealed bid the next. Owner-occupied homes are treated differently, and the difference can pull a parcel off the list. For single-family, owner-occupied properties the county board must by ordinance give the former owner who lost title, or that person's heirs or beneficiaries, the right to buy the land back before it is sold, on paying the costs and expenses under s. 75.36(3)(a), the property taxes that would have been owed for the year of the purchase, and enough to satisfy any other liens at the time of foreclosure plus the county's repurchase costs. The board may extend the same right to other property types at its option. A sale under that ordinance is exempt from s. 75.69 altogether, so it never reaches a public bid. Counties set their own window. Dane County gives the former owner 60 days from delivery of the treasurer's certified-mail notice. Treat an owner-occupied house on a Wisconsin land sale list as provisional until the repurchase window has closed.
Bid at the tax deed auction
The County Board of Supervisors, acting through the County Treasurer, the County Clerk, or a committee the board designates by ordinance. In a 1st class city that collects its own taxes under s. 74.87, s. 75.06 gives the city's counterpart officials the same powers, so that city runs its own foreclosures and its own sales rather than the county. sells the property at public auction to the highest bidder. Wisconsin fixes no statutory deposit. Section 75.35(2)(am) lets the county board sell its tax-deeded lands in whatever manner and on whatever terms it sets by ordinance or resolution, and s. 75.35(2)(d) lets the board delegate that power to a committee, an officer or a department, or hire licensed real estate brokers on commission. Deposits are county rules, not state law. St. Croix County requires a 10 percent deposit by cashier's check or money order with each sealed bid and rejects personal checks. Counties selling through the statewide online auctioneer instead take payment by certified check or wire transfer under the platform's terms. Read the county's own bid packet before you bid. No statutory deadline. Payment terms are set by the county board under s. 75.35(2)(am). On the sealed-bid route the award itself is not immediate: St. Croix County opens bids at a public hearing of its Tax Deed Committee and then sends them to the Administration Committee, and Oconto County presents the closing bids from its online auction to the Administration Committee at that body's monthly meeting. The balance is normally due after that acceptance, which can be weeks after the bid opening. Confirm the county's own schedule before you commit funds.
Or buy over the counter
You do not have to wait for an auction. Wisconsin has no statewide over-the-counter program at a fixed statutory price, and nothing like a state-held certificate to assign. What it has instead is county inventory that stays for sale. Section 75.35(2)(am) lets the county board sell its tax-deeded lands in whatever manner and on whatever terms it sets, and s. 75.35(2)(d) lets it hire licensed real estate brokers on commission. Section 75.69(1) accepts a multiple listing service posting as the required advertisement, so a county parcel can simply sit on the open market until someone buys it. After a parcel has been advertised once and not sold, the county may sell it for any amount, subject to a further class 1 notice and to county board or committee approval where the price is below appraised value. The practical route is to ask the county treasurer or land committee for the current list of unsold county-owned parcels and make a written offer. Approval still runs through the board or its designated committee, so nothing closes across a counter on the day. Counties name the same event differently, so search for all of them: a tax deed land sale, a county-owned property sale, a surplus land sale, or a foreclosed property sale. There is no Lands Available for Taxes list of the Florida kind and no escheat to the state. A county keeps what it does not sell and remains under a duty to keep offering it: a first advertisement within 240 days of acquisition, and within 180 days for property acquired from 2026, with longer clocks for the parcel classes in s. 75.69(1m) in a county of 750,000 or more. A county may petition the circuit court that handled the foreclosure for relief from a deadline on a specific parcel. Land a county holds as county forest land is outside s. 75.69 entirely and is sold under the forestry statutes instead.
One more step: clear the title
Winning a tax deed does not hand you marketable title. Before you can resell to a normal buyer or insure the parcel, you will usually need a quiet title action, which takes months and costs money. Fold that cost into your maximum bid and read what you actually own after a tax deed before you bid. A tax deed also does not wipe out everything: select governmental and municipal liens can survive, and a federal tax lien carries a 120-day IRS redemption right, so check what survives a tax deed too.
Buying tax deeds in Wisconsin: common questions
How do you buy a tax deed in Wisconsin?
Can you buy Wisconsin tax deeds online?
More Wisconsin answers, including redemption and statute detail, are on the Wisconsin tax sale FAQ.
New to this? Start with tax lien vs tax deed and the full Wisconsin walkthrough, then value a parcel with the due diligence guide.
Steps verified Sep 10, 2026 against Wisconsin 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.