Franklin County MO Tax Sale: Bidding, Redemption, and Deeds

The Franklin County MO tax sale is held on the fourth Monday of August at the county courthouse, where the collector auctions liens on real estate with unpaid property taxes under Chapter 140 of the Missouri Revised Statutes.¹ A winning bid does not buy the property. It buys a certificate of purchase, a lien that can ripen into ownership only if the delinquent owner fails to redeem within the statutory window and you follow the notice rules exactly.

When and Where the Sale Happens

Bidding opens at 10:00 a.m. on the fourth Monday of August at the Franklin County courthouse. The collector publishes the list of delinquent parcels in a local newspaper ahead of the sale, so you can pull the list, research parcels, and decide what you want to pursue before auction day. Any real estate with taxes still owed on January 1 is treated as delinquent, and the collector is required to enforce the state’s lien against it.¹

Each parcel opens at a minimum bid equal to the total delinquent taxes, penalties, interest, and costs. Registered bidders compete through oral bidding, and the parcel goes to the highest bid.

Who Can Bid

You cannot bid if you owe delinquent taxes on any other property in Missouri. Every bidder must sign an affidavit at the sale confirming they are current on all Missouri property taxes. Signing a false affidavit, or refusing to sign one, voids the purchase.²

Nonresidents face extra steps. If you live outside Missouri, you must file a written agreement consenting to the jurisdiction of the circuit court in the county where the sale takes place, and you must appoint a Franklin County citizen as your agent. The certificate of purchase is issued to the agent, not to you, and any eventual deed passes through the agent before reaching you.³ If your appointed agent dies, becomes incapacitated, or refuses to act, the county clerk serves as your agent by default.

First, Second, Third, and Post-Third Offerings

Missouri runs a tiered system, and which tier a parcel falls into changes both the redemption window and how quickly you can get a deed.

First and Second Offerings

A parcel that gets no qualifying bid at its first annual sale returns the following year as a second offering under the same minimum-bid rules. Properties sold at either the first or second offering carry a one-year redemption period from the sale date.⁴

Third Offering

A parcel that goes unsold for two consecutive years comes back as a third offering at the next regular sale. The minimum bid still equals the taxes, interest, penalties, and costs, but the redemption period drops to 90 days.⁵

Post-Third Offering

Parcels that still don’t sell after the third offering must be advertised or offered every 30 days. A buyer at a post-third offering sale can obtain a collector’s deed immediately, with no redemption period, after paying any taxes that became due on the property after the delinquency date listed in the advertisement.⁵ That deed takes priority over all other liens and encumbrances except real property taxes.

Paying for a Winning Bid

You pay the full bid amount to the collector immediately after the sale. Cash and cashier’s checks are the standard accepted forms. If you win a parcel and fail to pay, the penalty is 25% of the bid amount plus a prosecuting attorney’s fee. Don’t bid beyond what you can hand over on the spot.

Once payment clears, the collector issues a certificate of purchase that identifies the parcel and the bid price. The certificate is your proof of the lien, and you’ll need it for every step that follows, including a redemption payoff or a later deed application. The certificate does not give you ownership, and it does not give you any right to enter or use the property.

What the Redemption Period Looks Like

During the redemption window, the original owner, any lienholder, or any occupant can reclaim the property. For first and second offering sales the window is one year; for a third offering it is 90 days.⁴

To redeem, the owner pays the collector the full purchase price shown on the certificate, plus sale costs, plus interest at the rate stated in the certificate, capped at 10% per year. Watch this: interest only accrues on the portion of your bid equal to the delinquent taxes and sale costs. Any amount you bid above that earns no interest.⁴ Overbidding doesn’t boost your return; it dilutes it.

If you paid subsequent years’ taxes to protect your position while waiting out the redemption period, the redeeming party must reimburse those payments with interest at 8% per year, along with the cost of recording and releasing the certificate, the title search, and postage for the required notices.

Getting a Collector’s Deed

If no one redeems, moving from certificate to deed takes work. Start with a professional title search to identify every person or entity with a recorded interest in the property, including mortgages, deeds of trust, leases, and judgment liens.

At least 90 days before you are authorized to acquire the deed, send written notice to the recorded owner and every identified lienholder informing them of their right to redeem. Send each notice by both first-class mail and certified mail with return receipt requested, to the person’s last known address.⁶ Note the timing: the 90 days runs backward from when you can take the deed, not from the end of the redemption period. Miscalculating opens the door to a legal challenge.

Third-offering purchases follow a different schedule. You must notify all recorded lienholders within 45 days after the purchase. Each recipient has 90 days from the postmark date to redeem, and after that window their right to redeem is permanently barred.⁶

Once the notice period closes, file an affidavit with the collector confirming you gave proper notice. The collector then issues a collector’s deed that transfers title and extinguishes most prior liens and encumbrances, except unpaid real property taxes.⁵ Record the deed with the county recorder right away. Until it’s recorded, your ownership is exposed to third-party claims.

Due Diligence Before You Bid

The county offers no warranty on the condition or title of any parcel. Before the auction, pull the legal description, check the physical boundaries, review zoning, and search for recorded liens. A drive-by can expose problems that records won’t show, like structural damage or environmental contamination that turns a cheap parcel into a liability.

Federal tax liens deserve extra attention. If the IRS has a recorded lien on a parcel, the federal government must receive written notice by certified or registered mail at least 25 days before the sale, and after the sale the IRS has 120 days or the local redemption period, whichever is longer, to redeem by paying the sale price.⁷ If proper notice wasn’t given, the federal lien survives the sale, meaning you’d own a property still subject to the IRS claim.

Costs to Budget

Your bid is only part of what you’ll spend. Expect to pay for a title search (typically a few hundred dollars depending on the chain of title), certified mail with return receipt for each required notice, notary fees for affidavits, recording fees for the certificate and the eventual deed, and any subsequent-year taxes paid while waiting out redemption. If the property redeems, most of those costs come back to you under the redemption statute. If it doesn’t redeem and the title turns out to be defective, those costs are yours to absorb.

If You’re the Former Owner: Surplus Funds

When a winning bid exceeds the taxes and sale costs, the excess is surplus. The county holds it in trust and distributes it first to former lienholders in order of priority, then to the former property owner. To claim it, you must file a written claim with the county commission within 90 days after the redemption period expires, identifying your lien or ownership interest with the recorder’s book and page number or document number. No interest is paid while the county holds the money, and any surplus still unclaimed after three years transfers to the county’s permanent school fund.⁸

Tax Reporting on Redemption Interest

If a property you purchased at tax sale is redeemed and the interest paid to you totals $10 or more, the collector reports that income on IRS Form 1099-INT.⁹ The interest is taxable in the year you receive it, regardless of how long the certificate was outstanding. If the property doesn’t redeem and you take the deed, your tax basis is the total you paid, including the original bid, subsequent taxes, title search costs, and other qualifying expenses. Talk to a tax professional before your first purchase; the reporting trips up new investors more than the auction does.

1
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 140.010 – County Collector, Enforcement of State’s Lien
2
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 140.190 – Period of Sale, Manner of Bids, Prohibited Sales, Sale to Nonresidents
3
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 140.190 – Period of Sale, Manner of Bids, Prohibited Sales, Sale to Nonresidents
4
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 140.340 – Redemption, When, Manner
5
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 140.250 – Third Offering of Delinquent Lands and Lots, Redemption, Subsequent Sale, Collector’s Deed
6
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 140.405 – Purchaser of Property at Delinquent Land Tax Auction, Deed Issued to, When
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 7425 – Discharge of Lien or Property, Right of United States to Redeem
8
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 140.230 – Foreclosure Sale Surplus
9
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1099-INT, Interest Income