Missouri Tax Sales, Explained

10/23/26

Every August, county collectors across Missouri auction the tax liens on properties with delinquent real estate taxes. For some people, a Missouri tax sale is an investment. For others, it is the last warning before losing a home, a rental property or a lien they thought was secure.

This blog is for everyone with a seat at the table: tax sale investors, homeowners, mortgage lenders and other lienholders, county collectors and their staff, title professionals and attorneys. Each post will explain one part of Missouri tax sale law in plain terms, and track the court cases and legislation that change it.

I'm Scott Walterbach, a Kansas City attorney who has represented tax sale purchasers across Missouri since 2007. I wrote Missouri Real Property Tax Sales and founded the Missouri Tax Sale Seminar. This blog continues that work between seminars.

How a Missouri tax sale works

Most of Missouri forecloses unpaid property taxes under the Jones-Munger Act, RSMo Chapter 140. It is an administrative process run by the county collector, not a lawsuit. St. Louis City (Chapter 92) and Jackson County (Chapter 141) use separate judicial processes. In outline, a first- or second-offering sale under Chapter 140 runs like this:

1. Delinquency. Real estate taxes unpaid on January 1 become delinquent, and the State holds a lien on the property.

2. The annual sale. The collector publishes the delinquent list and holds the tax sale each August, sometimes online. The winning bidder pays the taxes due and buys the State's lien, not the property, and receives a certificate of purchase.

3. Redemption. For at least one year, the owner, a lienholder or other interested party can redeem by paying the collector the taxes, interest and allowed costs. Most properties are redeemed, and the purchaser is repaid with statutory interest on the taxes due - not on any amount bid over the taxes due.

4. Notice of the right to redeem. If no one redeems, the purchaser must send notices under RSMo 140.405 to everyone with a recorded interest. Those notices must also satisfy constitutional due process, which can demand more than the statute says.

5. Collector's deed. If the notices pass the collector's review, the collector issues a deed to the purchaser, cutting off the right to redeem.

6. Quiet title. Because a collector's deed carries no title warranties, most purchasers file a quiet title lawsuit so the title can be insured and sold.

7. Surplus. When bidding exceeds the taxes due, the surplus is held for lienholders and the former owner to claim, an issue the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 decision in Tyler v. Hennepin County has brought to national attention.

Every step has deadlines, and missing one can cost a purchaser the property or an owner their equity.

What's at stake for you

• Tax sale investors need to understand redemption interest, notice requirements, liens that survive the sale, and what it takes to get insurable title.

• Homeowners facing a tax sale have a right to redeem and, in some cases, a claim to surplus funds. Knowing the deadlines matters, and keeping the collector updated with your mailing address is a necessity.

• Mortgage lenders and lienholders can lose their security if the tax foreclosure culminates in a collector's deed; or they can preserve the status quo by redeeming.

• County collectors run the sale, review deed applications and handle surplus claims, often with small staffs, rules that are opaque or change, and various other real-world challenges.

• Attorneys handle the quiet title, ejectment and bankruptcy disputes that follow.

• Title underwriters decide whether a collector's deed and quiet title judgment can be insured.

What's coming on this blog

Upcoming posts will cover new Missouri appellate decisions and Eighth Circuit rulings on tax sales, legislative changes to Chapters 140, 141 and 92, surplus and home-equity litigation after Tyler, sewer district and other liens that survive a tax sale, bankruptcy and the redemption period, and practical guidance on notices, collector's deeds and quiet title.

For a full grounding in the law, read my book: Missouri Real Property Tax Sales: Exploring Missouri's Tax Sale Framework and the Jones-Munger Act, available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. To hear from collectors, investors, title professionals and attorneys in person, join us at the annual Missouri Tax Sale Seminar, which offers CLE credit in Missouri and Kansas.

Have a question you'd like answered here? Email scott@mtss.llc.

This post is for general educational purposes only and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Consult an attorney about your specific situation.