To buy a tax lien in Wyoming you bid on a certificate, not on the property. The county certificate sale is run by the County Treasurer. You are buying the delinquent debt, the statutory interest it earns, and the right to force a sale if the owner never repays.
Each step below is drawn from Wyoming 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? Most beginners start with a certificate (the lien path). The deed steps below apply once you hold a certificate long enough to force a sale, or you bid directly at a tax deed auction. Not sure which is for you? Start with tax lien vs tax deed.
Learn the timeline and lien priority
Wyoming property taxes are payable in two halves. The first half is payable on and after November 10 and the second half on and after May 10 of the following year, and no interest is charged if the whole tax is paid by December 31. Any balance not paid when payable is delinquent after that day and bears interest at 18 percent a year until paid. Each year the county treasurer declares taxes still unpaid on May 11 delinquent and certifies the delinquent tax roll by May 21, which sets up the summer sale. Taxes on real property are a perpetual lien on the parcel against all persons except the United States and the State of Wyoming. A homestead may be sold only for the taxes due on it alone. Understand this before you commit any money.
Find the advertised delinquent list
Before the certificate sale, the County Treasurer advertises the delinquent parcels. Once a year, in summer, on a date each county treasurer sets. The statute fixes the notice rather than the date: the sale must be advertised once a week for three weeks in a legal newspaper in the county, the first publication at least four weeks before the sale and before the first week in September. Sales are held at the county courthouse or a county building between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Sundays excluded, and may be adjourned day to day until all lands are sold. County practice puts most sales from late July into early September: Laramie County holds its sale the Thursday after Cheyenne Frontier Days, Sweetwater County scheduled its 2026 sale for August 6, and Natrona County held its 2026 lottery drawing on September 3. No state agency assigns or publishes a statewide sale calendar, and no shared law firm or auction contractor runs the sales; each treasurer runs its own. Pull that list for your target county and shortlist the parcels worth researching.
Register, then buy at the amount due
Register with the state and the county ahead of the sale, and be ready to pay the full amount due rather than a deposit. There is no auction in the ordinary sense. A certificate sells for the amount due on it and every one of them earns the statutory 15 percent, so the sale allocates access rather than price. Ask the county who holds priority ahead of you and what you must file, and by when, to be eligible at all. A redeemed certificate pays at least a 3 percent floor. Wyoming runs no auction on rate or price. Under W.S. 39-13-108(e)(iii)(B) any person who offers to pay the taxes, interest, penalties and costs due on a parcel is considered its purchaser and must pay immediately, so every buyer pays the same figure and earns the same statutory return. The statute says nothing about choosing among several people making that same offer, and the county treasurers fill that gap with a lottery: Laramie, Campbell and Albany counties each assign every registered buyer one number, draw a number for each parcel as it is announced, and let the holder of the drawn number buy or pass, and Natrona County runs the same drawing in the treasurer's office. A parcel that cannot be sold for the amount due is bid in for the county by the treasurer at the same sale, which is not a separate event and is not open to investors. Other things a date-scraper will find that are NOT an investor sale: the newspaper notices of intent to apply for a tax deed that certificate holders publish under 39-13-108(e)(v)(B), the county clerk's 60-day notice before a tax deed issues to the county under 39-13-108(e)(iv)(A), and a county commissioners' private sale of land the county already took by tax deed under 39-13-108(e)(iv)(B), which sells the parcel itself and has no statutory schedule.
Collect interest or wait out redemption
Interest runs at 15 percent a year from the date of sale on the full amount paid at the sale, including the advertising charge of up to 20 dollars and the certificate of purchase fee of up to 20 dollars, and a one-time 3 percent penalty is added on top. Subsequent taxes the certificate holder pays also earn 15 percent a year. The statute states the rate per annum and does not state a compounding rule; county handouts, Albany County's among them, describe the interest as applied to the days held since the sale date. The 15 percent applies to every certificate from the 1982 tax sale onward; the statute keeps an 8 percent rate only for older certificates. If the holder has already given notice of intent to apply for a tax deed, the redeeming owner also reimburses the holder's actual expenses up to 250 dollars on a sworn statement. The legal owner may redeem at any time after the sale until a valid tax deed application has been filed with and accepted by the county treasurer. Because the treasurer cannot accept an application until four years after the sale, every owner has at least four years; after that the window stays open until the holder applies, and the holder must apply by the sixth year or lose the deed route. Redemption money is paid to the county treasurer, who holds it for the certificate holder, issues a certificate of redemption and notifies the holder. Where the county holds the certificate, the treasurer deeds the parcel to the county after four years. Where the holder instead forecloses in district court, anyone with an interest in the property may redeem until the court confirms the sheriff's sale. To redeem, the owner pays The amount the parcel sold for at the tax sale, including the advertising charge and the certificate fee, plus a 3 percent penalty, plus interest at 15 percent a year since the date of sale; plus any later taxes the certificate holder paid, with 15 percent a year on those; plus, if the holder has already given notice of intent to apply for a tax deed, the holder's actual expenses up to 250 dollars on a sworn statement. The treasurer charges up to 20 dollars for the certificate of redemption. Attorney's fees are excluded. A redemption from a county-held certificate pays the interest and the later taxes but not the 3 percent penalty. If they redeem, that payoff is your return; if they never do, the certificate becomes your path to the property.
Or buy over the counter
You do not have to wait for an auction. A parcel that cannot be sold at the sale for the taxes, interest, penalties and costs due is bid in for the county by the treasurer, who issues the certificate of purchase to the county without a fee. The board of county commissioners may sell and assign any such certificate at public or private sale at any time, and at a public sale may reject bids and continue the sale until the property is sold. Certificates are assignable by endorsement, and the assignee takes all the original purchaser's rights. The statute leaves the price and procedure to the commissioners, so whether a county offers its certificates over the counter, and on what terms, is a county-level fact to confirm with the treasurer. Wyoming keeps no statewide lands available list. Four years after the sale the treasurer deeds unredeemed county-held parcels to the county, and the county commissioners may then dispose of the property at private sale by a deed signed by the commission chairman and the county clerk. That is a sale of the parcel itself, not of a certificate, and it runs on no statutory schedule.
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 liens in Wyoming: common questions
How do you buy a tax lien in Wyoming?
Can you buy Wyoming tax liens online?
More Wyoming answers, including redemption and statute detail, are on the Wyoming tax sale FAQ.
New to this? Start with tax lien vs tax deed and the full Wyoming walkthrough, then value a parcel with the due diligence guide.
Steps verified Sep 25, 2026 against Wyoming 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.