Mississippi Tax Sale Overview
Tax Sales
When a property owner fails to pay their real property tax bill in Mississippi, the county/municipality will have a public auction to sell a lien on the property for the overdue amount. The main reason behind such a sale is for the county/municipality to collect the much-needed revenue to allow the entity to function and meet budgets. The county uses this tax money to pay for schools, public services, libraries, roads, parks, etc. When taxes are not paid, county governments do not have the operating funds for these uses.
One common misconception among new tax lien buyers in MS is the ability to possess the property right away after purchasing a tax lien, which is not the case. With tax lien auctions, you are not purchasing the property, but you are purchasing a lien against the property. Your tax lien purchase is a legal claim against an owner's property to secure payment of the property taxes they owe with interest.
When Do Tax Sales Occur?
Depending on the county, tax sales occur on either the first Monday in April or the last Monday in August. The sale will be conducted from 8:30 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. until completed. If there are more parcels to be sold, the sale will resume where it left off the next business day at 8:30 A.M. (Miss. Code Ann. § 27-41-59)
Bidding
Mississippi Tax Lien Auctions are conducted by a "premium bid," meaning the highest bid wins. Bidders are bidding up from the face value amount (taxes, interest, fees, and penalties). Any amounts placed above the face value amount would be considered an "overbid." The purchaser does not earn interest on the "overbid," only on the face value amount. You are encouraged to investigate and research any parcel you are interested in prior to making any bids.
Redemption
The owner of the property has a statutory redemption period of 2 years from the date of sale. If the property owner does not pay the taxes within 2 years from the purchase date, the priority lien holder can acquire the property. The Chancery Clerk's Office typically handles the process of acquiring the property. (Miss. Code Ann. § 27-45-3)
Interest Earned
If the property owner pays the debt, the purchaser will be reimbursed the face value amount of the lien plus 1.5% interest per month accrued up to that date. It is important to note that the "overbid" amount is not used to calculate this interest. (Miss. Code Ann. § 27-45-3, § 21-33-61)
Training
More in-depth registration and bidding training videos will be posted to assist with any questions potential bidders may have. These videos will be found in the "Tax Sale Bidder Help" section of the GovEase website. Click "Support by State" to find training information organized by state. On-demand online webinar training will also be available at this link: Bidder Training Webinars. For more in-depth training on the bidding processes, GovEase offers tutorial videos for each step in the process. For Mississippi, please visit our Mississippi Tax Auction Training Page to access these videos. Should you have additional questions, our support team is here to help. You can reach our support team by calling 769-208-5050 and pressing option 2. You can also email them any time at support@govease.com.