Property taxes in Indiana are not optional, and the consequences of not paying them are real and time-bound. If you own land in Indiana with delinquent taxes, you are not just accumulating debt — you are on a clock that ends with the county selling your land out from under you.
Understanding how the Indiana tax sale process actually works — and where you are on the timeline — is the first step toward doing something about it.
How Indiana Property Taxes Work
Indiana property taxes are levied annually and paid in two installments. The first installment is due May 10. The second is due November 10. These dates are fixed statewide, though counties can grant limited extensions.
If you miss a payment, the county assessor's office and county treasurer track the delinquency. The state of Indiana's Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) oversees property tax administration statewide, with county treasurers doing the day-to-day collection work.
Important: property taxes are a lien on the land itself. They attach to the property, not just to you personally. If you sell the land, the buyer's title company will require that all delinquent taxes be paid at closing. You cannot transfer clean title with unpaid taxes.
The Indiana Tax Sale Timeline
Indiana's tax sale process follows a specific statutory sequence. Knowing where you are in this sequence tells you how much time you have.
Year 1: First Missed Payment
After a missed installment, the county treasurer notifies you of the delinquency. Interest and penalties begin accruing. At this stage, you owe the original tax plus a 5% penalty on the first installment and 10% on subsequent delinquent installments.
Year 1-2: Delinquency Accumulates
If you continue to miss payments, each additional missed installment adds penalties. The county continues to send notices. The delinquency is a matter of public record — county treasurer records are public, and the delinquency list is published.
Year 2+: Tax Sale Certification
Under Indiana Code 6-1.1-24, a tract of land becomes eligible for tax sale after two consecutive years of delinquency (or when unpaid taxes are at least one year overdue, depending on timing). The county auditor certifies the parcel to the tax sale list.
Once certified, the county treasurer must notify you by certified mail at the last known address. A notice is also published in the county newspaper. This is your formal warning that the tax sale is coming.
Tax Sale: October (Annual)
Indiana tax sales typically happen in September or October. The county sells a tax lien certificate on your property to a third-party buyer who pays the delinquent taxes. That buyer earns interest on their investment, and you retain the right to redeem the property — but only for a limited time.
After the tax sale, you still own the property. The tax buyer does not take title at the sale. But the clock is now running on your redemption period.
Redemption Period: One Year
You have one year from the date of the tax sale to redeem your property by paying the delinquent taxes, penalties, interest, and the tax buyer's costs. This period used to be longer; under current Indiana law it is generally one year for most parcels.
If you do not redeem within one year, the tax buyer can petition the court for a tax deed. Once a tax deed is issued, your ownership is gone. The tax buyer owns the property.
What a Tax Deed Means for You
A tax deed transfer is not like a normal sale. It does not require your consent, your cooperation, or any payment to you. When the tax deed issues, you receive nothing. You simply no longer own the land.
This is not a foreclosure where you might have equity remaining. The tax buyer paid the delinquent taxes and earned the property for that investment. Your equity in the land — whatever you might have realized from a sale — is wiped out.
Can You Sell Land with Delinquent Taxes Before the Tax Sale?
Yes — as long as you still own the property and have not passed the tax deed stage, you can sell the land. In a sale to a direct buyer like us, the delinquent taxes are paid at closing from the sale proceeds. The title company orders a tax payoff from the county treasurer, the amount is included on the settlement statement, and the tax lien is extinguished at closing.
You receive what's left after the taxes are paid. That may be less than you hoped, but it is infinitely better than a tax deed transferring for nothing.
Selling During the Redemption Period (After Tax Sale)
If your property has already gone through the tax sale and you are in the redemption period, you can still sell. The sale proceeds would need to cover the redemption cost (delinquent taxes plus penalties plus tax buyer costs plus interest accrued since the sale). If the land has enough value to cover the redemption amount and still leave a net for you, a sale during redemption is worth pursuing urgently.
Time matters here. Every day into the redemption period adds interest costs and reduces your window. If you are in the redemption period on Indiana land with delinquent taxes, contact us immediately — we work with these situations but the timeline cannot be ignored.
What to Do If You Have Delinquent Indiana Land Taxes
- Check your current status — Call the county treasurer's office where the land is located. They can tell you the exact delinquent amount, whether the parcel has been certified to the tax sale list, and whether a tax sale has already occurred.
- Understand the redemption cost — If a tax sale has already occurred, the county can tell you the redemption amount and deadline. This is the total you need to pay to get clear of the tax buyer's lien.
- Assess whether sale proceeds can cover it — If the land is worth more than the delinquent tax total plus selling costs, selling before or during redemption puts money in your pocket. If the taxes have grown beyond the land's value, you may be upside down — but you should know that clearly before deciding to walk away.
- Contact us — We deal with delinquent tax situations in Indiana counties regularly. We can often close quickly enough to beat critical deadlines when we know what the timeline is.
Delinquent Taxes on Inherited or Multi-Heir Land
One of the most common situations we see: an elderly parent died, taxes went unpaid for several years while the estate wasn't formally administered, and now the land is either on the tax sale list or in redemption. The heirs don't know each other, don't agree on what to do, and the clock is running.
These situations are solvable but time-sensitive. We work with multi-heir situations regularly, including ones where we need to help coordinate multiple parties in different states to agree on a price and sign closing documents. The added complexity of delinquent taxes and a pending tax sale just means we move faster.
Know where you stand: Indiana county property tax records are public. You can check the delinquency status of any parcel at the county treasurer's website or by calling the county treasurer directly. The county and the parcel number are on the deed.
Kentucky Land with Delinquent Taxes
Kentucky handles delinquent property taxes differently from Indiana. In Kentucky, the county clerk's office is the key record-keeper. Delinquent taxes are listed with the state land office (formerly the Commissioner of Agriculture) if not paid after a certain period. The sheriff's sale process is how Kentucky moves delinquent parcels — similar in structure to Indiana's tax sale but with different timing and redemption rules.
We buy Kentucky land with delinquent taxes as well. If you own land in the Kentucky counties we serve and have a tax delinquency issue, reach out. The process on the Kentucky side works similarly — taxes resolved at closing from proceeds.