Delinquent Property Taxes in Mississippi: The Redemption Price Ignores the Winning Bid
Reviewed by DocDraft Legal Team · Mississippi · Last updated October 21, 2026
Mississippi fixes what it costs to buy a sold parcel back before the auction ever opens, because the chancery clerk builds that figure from the taxes the land sold for, not from whatever the winning bidder paid. Delinquent property taxes are taxes a homeowner failed to pay by the date the state set, after which the county adds interest and can force a sale of the property to collect them. Ad valorem taxes are due on or before February 1 (Miss. Code Ann. 27-41-1). Unpaid taxes then carry one-half of one percent a month from that date (Miss. Code Ann. 27-41-9), and the tax collector advertises after August 5 and sells on the last Monday of August, or the first Monday of April at the collector's option (Miss. Code Ann. 27-41-55). The buyer does not get the house yet: the certified list the collector files with the chancery clerk vests a perfect title without the right of possession and subject to the right of redemption (Miss. Code Ann. 27-41-81). From the day of the sale you have two years to redeem (Miss. Code Ann. 27-45-3), paying the chancery clerk the taxes and all costs incident to the sale, five percent damages on those taxes, and one and one-half percent a month, regardless of the amount of the purchaser's bid. The clerk takes a further three percent of the amount necessary to redeem (Miss. Code Ann. 25-7-21). Once two years pass, the clerk on demand executes a deed with immediate possession (Miss. Code Ann. 27-45-23). Attorney review is available through DocDraft.
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Where are you with the unpaid property taxes?
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How long do I have to redeem land sold at a Mississippi tax sale?
Two years. The owner, any person acting for the owner with the owner's consent, or any person interested in the land sold for taxes may redeem at any time within two years after the day of sale (Miss. Code Ann. 27-45-3). The clock runs from the sale date, not from any notice.
How much does it cost to redeem property in Mississippi?
Three charges stack on top of the taxes themselves: all costs incident to the sale, five percent damages on the amount of taxes for which the land was sold, and interest at one and one-half percent per month, or any fractional part thereof, from the date of the sale (Miss. Code Ann. 27-45-3).
When does a Mississippi county sell land for unpaid property taxes?
The same year the taxes fall due. Ad valorem taxes are due on or before February 1 (Miss. Code Ann. 27-41-1). After the fifth day of August the tax collector advertises for two weeks and sells on the last Monday of August, or on the first Monday of April at the collector's option (Miss. Code Ann. 27-41-55).
Who do I pay to redeem land sold for taxes in Mississippi?
The chancery clerk of the county where the land lies. Redemption of land sold for taxes shall be made through the chancery clerks of the respective counties (Miss. Code Ann. 27-45-1). The clerk takes the money and executes a release that operates as a quitclaim of the purchaser's title (Miss. Code Ann. 27-45-3).
Mississippi delinquent property tax rules at a glance
Mississippi hands this process to two county officers and keeps the price pinned to the tax roll. Delinquent property taxes here are taxes an owner did not pay by the statutory date, after which interest accrues and the land itself can be sold to collect them (Miss. Code Ann. 27-41-1, 27-41-9). The tax collector sells the land, or so much of it as will pay the taxes and costs, for cash to the highest and best bidder (Miss. Code Ann. 27-41-59), and the chancery clerk then runs the redemption for two years (Miss. Code Ann. 27-45-3). The distinctive part is the arithmetic. The redemption figure is built from the taxes, expressly regardless of the amount of the purchaser's bid, and any overbid goes into the county general fund, where it stays if the owner redeems (Miss. Code Ann. 27-41-77).
A Hattiesburg duplex where the winning bid ran to double the taxes and changed nothing
Run the clock on one Forrest County duplex carrying 3,420 dollars of ad valorem tax left unpaid past February 1, 2026. Interest of one-half of one percent a month starts there (Miss. Code Ann. 27-41-9). The tax collector advertises after the fifth day of August and sells on the last Monday of August, and a bidder pays 7,000 dollars in cash (Miss. Code Ann. 27-41-55, 27-41-59). The 3,580 dollar excess is reported to the chancery clerk and paid into the county treasury (Miss. Code Ann. 27-41-77). To redeem the following June the owner pays the chancery clerk the taxes and sale costs, 171 dollars of five percent damages, one and one-half percent a month from the sale date, and the clerk's three percent (Miss. Code Ann. 27-45-3, 25-7-21). The 7,000 dollar bid never enters that sum, and redeeming leaves the excess with the county.
Relevant Laws
Miss. Code Ann. 27-41-1 (taxes due February 1, and the county partial payment option)
Makes state, county, school, road, levee, other taxing district and municipal ad valorem taxes due, payable and collectible on or before the first day of February next succeeding the assessment and levy, and requires the tax collector to begin accepting payment no later than December 26 of the prior year. It also lets a county, by an order spread upon the minutes of the board of supervisors, accept partial payments on a statutory schedule of one half by February 1, one fourth by May 1 and one fourth by July 1, and provides that any unpaid balance existing on August 1 sends the land to the last Monday in August sale. Linked to the Mississippi Legislature's printing of the section in 2026 Senate Bill 2274, which proposed only to bar a debit card processing fee.
Miss. Code Ann. 27-41-9 (one-half of one percent a month before any sale)
Provides that a person who fails to pay the tax levied and assessed against him when due shall pay, in addition to the amount of taxes unpaid after February 1, interest at the rate of one-half of one percent per month, or fractional part thereof, from February 1 to the date of payment. Where a due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday the payment may be received on the first working day after without interest, and the Governor may by proclamation extend the time for imposing the charge for up to sixty days and, if necessary, for two further sixty day periods. Linked to the Legislature's printing of the section brought forward in 2023 House Bill 226.
Miss. Code Ann. 27-41-55 and 27-41-59 (advertisement, the two sale dates, and how the sale runs)
Section 27-41-55 requires the tax collector, after the fifth day of August, to advertise all lands on which taxes due and in arrears have not been paid, inserted for two weeks in a county newspaper, for sale on the last Monday of August, and permits the collector at his option to advertise after February 15 for a sale on the first Monday of April instead. Section 27-41-59 directs the collector to sell the land, or so much and such parts of it as will pay the taxes due and all costs and charges, to the highest and best bidder for cash, to offer 160 acres or a smaller separately described subdivision first and then the whole tract as an entirety, and to strike the parcel off to the state if no person will bid the whole amount of taxes and all costs. It also authorises online bidding where the board of supervisors ratifies the collector's agreement with a provider, and makes a sale at the wrong time or place void. Linked to the Legislature's printing of both sections brought forward in 2025 Senate Bill 2859.
Miss. Code Ann. 27-41-77 (what happens to a bid above the taxes)
Provides that if any land be sold for more than the amount of taxes due and all costs, the tax collector reports the excess to the chancery clerk and pays it into the county treasury, and the board of supervisors transfers it to the general funds of the county. If the land be redeemed, or the title of the purchaser be defeated or set aside in any way or for any reason, the excess shall be retained by the county. Where only part of the land is redeemed the excess is apportioned ratably. Upon the expiration of the period of redemption without the property being redeemed, the excess shall, upon the request of the owner, be paid to the owner, and if the owner does not request payment within two years from the expiration of the period of redemption the county keeps it. Linked to the section as brought forward in 2026 House Bill 4044, which was approved by the Governor on March 25, 2026.
Miss. Code Ann. 27-45-1 (redemption runs through the chancery clerk, and who gets paid what)
Provides that redemption of land sold for taxes shall be made through the chancery clerks of the respective counties, and sets the order in which the clerk pays the money out where the land was sold to an individual: first the state taxes with interest and additional charges, second the county and taxing district sums, third the five percent damages on the amount of the taxes for which the land was sold, which goes to the county, and fourth the balance to the purchaser. It requires the clerk to settle within twenty days after the end of each month, to report to the board of supervisors, and to note each redemption on the public record of delinquent tax lands on the day payment is made. Linked to the section as brought forward in 2026 House Bill 4044, approved by the Governor on March 25, 2026.
Miss. Code Ann. 27-45-3 (two years, five percent damages, one and one-half percent a month)
Lets the owner, any person acting for the owner with the owner's consent, or any person interested in the land redeem the land, or any part separable by legal subdivisions of not less than forty acres, or any undivided interest in it, at any time within two years after the day of sale, by paying the chancery clerk, regardless of the amount of the purchaser's bid at the tax sale, the amount of all taxes for which the land was sold with all costs incident to the sale, five percent damages on the amount of those taxes, and interest on all such taxes and costs at the rate of one and one-half percent per month or any fractional part thereof from the date of the sale, plus costs accrued since the sale with the same interest. It preserves a longer right for infants who inherit or acquire land by will and persons of unsound mind, and makes the clerk's release operate as a quitclaim. Linked to the section as brought forward in 2026 Senate Bill 2124.
Miss. Code Ann. 27-43-1 (the clerk's notice, 180 days to 60 days before the deadline)
Requires the clerk of the chancery court, within one hundred eighty days and not less than sixty days prior to the expiration of the time of redemption with respect to land sold either to individuals or to the state, to issue notice to the record owner of the land sold as of one hundred eighty days prior to that expiration, in a statutory form that tells the owner the land was sold for a stated year's taxes and that the title will become absolute unless redemption from the tax sale is made on or before a stated date. Linked to the section as brought forward in 2026 House Bill 1140.
Miss. Code Ann. 27-43-3 (how the notice is served, what it costs, and the consequence of failure)
Requires the clerk to issue the notice to the sheriff or a constable of the county of the reputed owner's residence, and requires service on the reputed owner personally if he can be found in the county after diligent search and inquiry, failing that by leaving a true copy at the usual place of abode with the spouse or another person over sixteen who lives there and will receive it, failing that by posting a copy on a door of that abode. The clerk must also mail a copy by registered or certified mail and publish the owner's name and address and the legal description at least forty five days prior to the expiration of the redemption period, must repeat the search and issue a second notice if both come back, and must then file a sworn affidavit of the acts of search and inquiry. It fixes the fees taxed against the owner on redemption at fifty dollars for examining the records, two dollars for issuing the notice, one dollar for mailing it, forty five dollars to the sheriff or constable for serving it, a smaller schedule plus a further forty five dollars for a second notice, and the actual cost of publication. Its closing sentence provides that should the clerk inadvertently fail to send notice as prescribed, the sale shall be void. Linked to the section as brought forward in 2026 House Bill 1140.
Miss. Code Ann. 27-43-5 and 27-43-11 (notice to lienholders, and what a failure costs them)
Section 27-43-5 makes it the duty of the chancery clerk to examine the records of deeds, mortgages and deeds of trust to find the names and addresses of all mortgagees, beneficiaries and holders of vendors liens of land sold for taxes, and to send each of them, within the time fixed for notifying owners, a statutory notice by certified mail with return receipt requested. Section 27-43-11 allows the clerk a fee of seven dollars for each lien found of record, taxed against the owner if the land is redeemed and against the purchaser if it is not, and provides that a failure to give the required notice to such lienors renders the tax title void as to those lienors, and as to them only. Linked to both sections as brought forward in 2026 House Bill 1140.
Miss. Code Ann. 25-7-21 (the chancery clerk's three percent and the delinquent tax fee schedule)
Sets the fees of the chancery clerk for the collection of delinquent taxes: one dollar for abstracting the list of lands sold for taxes per separately described section or subdivision lot, the fee provided in Section 25-7-9(1)(b) for filing and recording the deed to land sold for taxes, one dollar for abstracting each deed in the sectional index, the fee provided in Section 25-7-9(1)(b) for each recording redemption, one dollar for abstracting each redemption in the sectional index, and, in addition, three percent on the amount necessary to redeem. It also sets the publisher's fee at one dollar fifty for each separate publication advertising lands for sale for taxes per separately described subdivision, payable by the delinquent taxpayer. The two cross referenced recording fees were a flat ten dollars until 2024 House Bill 846 replaced them with the Section 25-7-9(1)(b) figure. Linked to that act as sent to the Governor, who approved it on April 20, 2024.
Miss. Code Ann. 25-7-9(1)(b) (the recording fee the redemption schedule now points at)
Sets the chancery clerk's fee for recording each deed, will, lease, amendment, subordination, lien, release, cancellation, order, decree, oath or any other document at twenty five dollars for the first five pages and one dollar for each additional page. The printing carries the bracketed legislative note that the section reads as shown from and after January 1, 2024 and through December 31, 2027. This is the figure that Section 25-7-21 now uses for filing and recording a tax deed and for each recording redemption. Linked to the section as brought forward in 2026 House Bill 1654.
Miss. Code Ann. 27-41-81 and 27-45-23 (what vests at the sale, and what vests two years later)
Section 27-41-81 requires the tax collector to transmit certified lists of lands struck off to the state and lands sold to individuals to the clerk of the chancery court, and provides that the lists vest in the state or the individual purchaser a perfect title to the land sold for taxes, but without the right of possession and subject to the right of redemption, and that a failure to transmit or record a list does not render the title void. Section 27-45-23 provides that when the period of redemption has expired the chancery clerk shall, on demand, execute deeds of conveyance to individuals purchasing lands at tax sales in a statutory form, and that such conveyance shall vest in the purchaser a perfect title with the immediate right of possession, invalidated in court only on proof that the land was not liable to sale, that the taxes had been paid before sale, or that the sale was made at the wrong time or place. Linked to the printings in 2025 Senate Bill 2859 and 2026 Senate Bill 2124 respectively.
Miss. Code Ann. 27-41-83 (what the former owner may not do during the redemption period)
Provides that the owner of lands sold or struck off to the state as provided in Section 27-41-81 has no right to cut merchantable timber, cordwood or brush from the land until it is redeemed and title again perfected in the individual owner, may not prospect for or extract minerals, stone or gravel during the period of redemption, and shall commit no waste. A violation carries a penalty of five dollars per acre for each acre affected plus actual damages, recoverable by the Attorney General in the name of the state and apportioned fifty percent to the state and fifty percent to the county, and is also a misdemeanour. During the redemption period the owner may cut and use wood from contiguous woodlands for fuel, fences and like farm purposes, but not for sale. Linked to the section as brought forward in 2025 Senate Bill 2859.
Miss. Code Ann. 27-45-21 (certifying unredeemed struck-off land to the Secretary of State)
Makes it the duty of the chancery clerk, within thirty days after the period of redemption has expired, to certify to the Secretary of State a list, on forms the Secretary of State provides, of all lands struck off to the state for taxes which have not been redeemed, showing the description, costs, officer's and printer's fees and the taxes involved. It exposes a clerk who misses the deadline to a fifty dollar per day penalty on his official bond, and provides that an electronic record of the list carrying the clerk's electronic signature vests title in the State of Mississippi to the lands listed. Linked to the Legislature's printing of the section in 2026 House Bill 1475, which died in conference on March 30, 2026, so the thirty day figure stands.
Harrison County Chancery Clerk: Land Redemption
A county chancery clerk page showing how the statute is run at the counter, including that an owner may redeem up to two years from the date of the tax sale, that the amount could or will include any current or prior year owed taxes, interest at 1.5 percent per month, and any additional fees and penalties required by law, and that in the maturity year the office searches title and notifies interested parties by certified mail, by sheriff or constable service, and by publishing a list of maturing properties in the newspaper. It gives the Recording and Redemption counters in Gulfport and Biloxi and states that in-office payments must be received by 5 p.m. on the deadline.
Mississippi Secretary of State: Tax-Forfeited Lands FAQs
The state page for parcels that were never redeemed. It confirms that every year each county chancery clerk sends the Secretary of State a list of property on which taxes have not been paid and the former owner has not redeemed by the statutory deadline, that listed properties are entered into the state's tax-forfeited inventory and offered for sale, and that a purchase runs through an application, a county tax assessor market value, a title investigation, an offer price approved by the Governor's Office, and a patent signed by the Governor and the Secretary of State. It notes that parcels sold to the prior owner are priced at a reduced rate.
Oktibbeha County Tax Office: the August tax sale in practice
A county tax collector page confirming the statutory calendar on the ground. It states that under Mississippi code sections 27-41-49 to 27-41-89 the tax collector must advertise and hold a tax sale for any unpaid taxes on real estate or any special assessments, and that traditionally the tax sale in that county takes place on the last Monday in August each year. It gives the Tax Collector's office address in Starkville and its telephone number for owners who need the figure on a specific parcel.
Regional Variances
Mississippi delinquent property tax rules at a glance
Sale mechanism
Hybrid, a redeemable tax title rather than an investor certificate. The tax collector sells the land, or so much and such parts of it as will pay the taxes due and all costs and charges, to the highest and best bidder for cash, offering 160 acres or a smaller separately described subdivision first and then the whole tract as an entirety (Miss. Code Ann. 27-41-59). The purchaser receives a collector's receipt (Miss. Code Ann. 27-41-75), and the certified list filed with the chancery clerk vests a perfect title without the right of possession and subject to the right of redemption (Miss. Code Ann. 27-41-81).
Delinquency date
February 1. Ad valorem taxes are due, payable and collectible on or before the first day of February next succeeding the date of the assessment and levy, and the tax collector must begin accepting payment no later than December 26 of the year before (Miss. Code Ann. 27-41-1).
Interest before the sale
One-half of one percent per month, or any fractional part thereof, on taxes unpaid after February 1, running from February 1 to the date of payment (Miss. Code Ann. 27-41-9). A fraction of a month counts as a month. The Governor may by proclamation extend the time for imposing the charge by up to sixty days, and if necessary by two further sixty day periods.
Time before sale
Months, not years. After the fifth day of August the collector advertises all land on which taxes due and in arrears have not been paid, for two weeks in a county newspaper, and sells on the last Monday of August of the same year the taxes fell due (Miss. Code Ann. 27-41-55). At the collector's option the advertisement may instead run after February 15 for a sale on the first Monday of April. Online bidding is available only where the board of supervisors has ratified the collector's agreement with a provider (Miss. Code Ann. 27-41-59).
Redemption period and clock
Two years after the day of sale, counted from the sale itself and not from the delinquency date, the filing of the collector's list or the clerk's notice (Miss. Code Ann. 27-45-3). Two classes of owner get a second clock: infants who have or may hereafter inherit or acquire land by will, and persons of unsound mind, who may redeem within two years after attaining full age or being restored to sanity, on also paying the value of permanent improvements made after the first two years expired.
Redeemer's charge
A two part charge, and neither part is a rate on the bid. A flat five percent damages on the amount of taxes for which the land was sold, with no time component at all, plus interest at one and one-half percent per month or any fractional part thereof on the taxes and the costs incident to the sale, running from the date of the sale (Miss. Code Ann. 27-45-3). The statute fixes the figure regardless of the amount of the purchaser's bid at the tax sale. Under Miss. Code Ann. 27-45-1 the clerk pays the five percent damages to the county and the balance to the purchaser.
Other redemption costs
All costs incident to the sale, plus costs accrued on the land since the sale with the same monthly interest (Miss. Code Ann. 27-45-3). The chancery clerk also takes three percent on the amount necessary to redeem, one dollar per abstracting entry, and the Section 25-7-9(1)(b) recording fee of 25 dollars for the first five pages (Miss. Code Ann. 25-7-21). The clerk's and sheriff's notice fees are taxed against the owner on redemption: fifty dollars for the record search, two dollars to issue, one dollar to mail, forty five dollars to serve, more for a second notice, plus actual publication cost (Miss. Code Ann. 27-43-3), and seven dollars per lien found (Miss. Code Ann. 27-43-11).
Notice to the owner
Two regimes at two stages. Before the sale, the two week newspaper advertisement, or posting in each supervisor's district where there is no newspaper (Miss. Code Ann. 27-41-55, 27-41-57). Before the redemption period expires, the clerk must issue notice to the record owner within 180 days and not less than 60 days before expiry (Miss. Code Ann. 27-43-1), served by the sheriff or constable personally, at the abode, or by posting, and also mailed by registered or certified mail and published at least 45 days before expiry (Miss. Code Ann. 27-43-3). Lienholders of record get their own certified mail notice (Miss. Code Ann. 27-43-5).
Where to redeem
The chancery clerk of the county where the land lies, not the tax collector and not the purchaser. Redemption of land sold for taxes shall be made through the chancery clerks of the respective counties (Miss. Code Ann. 27-45-1), and on payment the clerk executes a release that operates as a quitclaim of the state's or purchaser's title under the tax sale (Miss. Code Ann. 27-45-3). Larger counties staff this as a named counter, for example the Harrison County Chancery Clerk's Land Redemption department.
Surplus proceeds
Payable only if the land is not redeemed. Any excess over the taxes and costs is reported to the chancery clerk, paid into the county treasury and transferred to the county general funds, and if the land be redeemed, or the purchaser's title be defeated or set aside in any way or for any reason, the excess shall be retained by the county. On expiry without redemption it shall, upon the request of the owner, be paid to the owner, and the county keeps it if no request comes within two years from the expiration of the period of redemption (Miss. Code Ann. 27-41-77).
Payment plan
A county level option on current year taxes, not a statewide right and not a plan for taxes already sold. A county may, by an order spread upon the minutes of the board of supervisors, allow partial payments, and a municipality that collects its own taxes may do the same. The schedule is then statutory: one half by February 1, one fourth of taxes, interest and penalty by May 1, and one fourth by July 1, with any balance left on August 1 sold at the last Monday in August sale (Miss. Code Ann. 27-41-1).
If nobody bids
The parcel goes to the state, and the two year clock still runs. Where no person will bid the whole amount of taxes and all costs incident to the sale, the tax collector strikes the land off to the state (Miss. Code Ann. 27-41-59). Within thirty days after the redemption period expires the chancery clerk certifies the unredeemed list to the Secretary of State, whose Public Lands Division then holds and disposes of it as tax forfeited land (Miss. Code Ann. 27-45-21).
Frequently Asked Questions
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Expunging a Criminal Record in Mississippi (2026)
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