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Land · Wisconsin tax sale guide
Dane County tax sales, Wisconsin
Verified
Dane County's rules are written into county ordinance. Chapter 26 of the Dane County Ordinances, Sale of Tax Deed Lands, enacted under ss. 59.07(1), 75.35 and 75.69, directs the treasurer to prepare tax deeds to the county once redemption expires, under committee oversight, and to manage and sell the land that results. The same chapter carries the county's in rem foreclosure procedures in ss. 26.40 and 26.41. Unverified flags: whether a Dane County sale is open or scheduled right now, and the deposit or earnest terms of the current bid packet, were not verified in the sources read, so neither is stated as a fact here.
Selling office: Dane County Treasurer
Next sale: No dated sale verified in the sources read; the Treasurer's pattern is a fall sealed bid sale, often October or November, and sometimes a spring sale. The fall cadence comes from a secondary guide to the Treasurer's sales and is flagged as such. The Treasurer's Tax Deeded Land Sales page is the live word: when a sale opens, the parcel list, appraised values and bid forms post there. Treat the fall window as the working expectation for 2027 and confirm on the Treasurer's page.
As of November 9, 2026, no open or dated Dane County sale was verified in the sources read. The working expectation is the Treasurer's fall sealed bid pattern for the parcels the county deeds during 2026 and 2027, confirmed only when the sale posts on the Treasurer's page.
Dates and deadlines
| Next sale | No dated sale verified in the sources read; the Treasurer's pattern is a fall sealed bid sale, often October or November, and sometimes a spring sale |
| The certificate | On September 1 the county treasurer issues a tax certificate under s. 74.57 for taxes unpaid at the close of August 31. The certificate is held by the county itself; nothing is auctioned. |
| Redemption | The owner may redeem while the certificate runs, generally two years, paying the delinquent taxes with interest and penalty under s. 74.47. |
| The deed | Under Dane County Ordinance s. 26.11, once the redemption time has expired the treasurer takes all steps, including notice to owners of record, occupants and mortgagees, preparatory to issuance of a tax deed to Dane County, subject to the former owner repurchase preference in s. 26.15. |
| The other route | The county may instead foreclose in rem under s. 75.521; Dane County Ordinance ss. 26.40 and 26.41 carry the county's foreclosure procedures and the sale of foreclosed property. |
| The sale | Under Ordinance s. 26.13 the treasurer, under committee oversight, manages and sells tax deeded lands, by sealed bid from the Tax Deeded Land Sales page with appraised values posted. |
| After the sale | The county already holds title when it sells, so there is no redemption after the county's sale. The former owner's protections are the repurchase preference before the sale and the proceeds distribution under s. 75.36. |
| Format | Sealed bid sale of tax deeded land after the county takes its deed; the county also forecloses in rem: Dane County sells tax deeded land by sealed bid from the Treasurer's Tax Deeded Land Sales page, with appraised values and bid forms posted when a sale opens. Parcels are offered only after the county holds the deed, so the sale is a land sale, not a lien sale. |
| Selling office | Dane County Treasurer |
Sources: Dane County Ordinances ch. 26, Sale of Tax Deed Lands. Dane County Treasurer, Tax Deeded Land Sales. Wisconsin Statutes s. 75.35, Sale of tax-deeded lands. Wisconsin Statutes s. 75.69, Sale of tax delinquent real estate. Confirm with the selling office before relying on any date on this page: sales move, terms change, and parcels are pulled up to sale day.
Research Dane County parcels before you bid
A sale list gives you the parcels, the date, and the opening terms. It does not give you the owner, the value, or the rest of the picture: liens, foreclosure status, and parcel history. PropertyRadar is the data platform for that layer. It carries owner records, assessed and market values, foreclosure and tax data, and property history for parcels across Dane County, searchable by address, owner, or county, including parcels that never reach a sale list.
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How Wisconsin tax sales work
- Delinquent taxes accrue at eighteen percent a year, and nobody auctions anything. Under s. 74.47 unpaid Wisconsin taxes bear interest at one percent per month plus a penalty of one half of one percent per month. There is no lien sale at this stage, in any county, to anyone.
- On September 1 the treasurer issues the tax certificate to the county itself. Under s. 74.57 the county treasurer issues a tax certificate for the taxes and charges unpaid at the close of August 31, and the certificate holder is the county. The investor product that lien states sell simply does not exist in Wisconsin.
- The owner redeems from the county, generally within two years. Redemption means paying the delinquent taxes with the accrued interest and penalty to the county treasurer. While the certificate runs, the county holds a lien and nothing more; it cannot sell the land.
- Title moves by tax deed or by in rem foreclosure. When redemption expires unredeemed, the county may take a tax deed under ss. 75.01, 75.12 and 75.14, after the notice s. 75.12 requires, with the owner able to redeem until the deed is recorded; or it may foreclose in rem under s. 75.521, where the published notice fixes a last day for redemption at least eight weeks after first publication and the judgment vests title in the county. The City of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County may file after one year of delinquency; other counties generally after two years.
- Only then does the public get a purchase point. Tax-deeded lands are sold under ss. 75.35, 75.36 and 75.69 in the manner the county board sets: sealed bids, standing lists, online auctions and over-the-counter sales all appear in this set. Where s. 75.69 governs, no parcel may be sold for less than its appraised value, and conveyances are executed by the county clerk.
- The former owner keeps two statutory protections. The county board must provide by ordinance a right for the former owner of a single-family owner-occupied property to repurchase before the county sells (s. 75.35(3)), and on any sale the proceeds are distributed under s. 75.36, with the remainder going to a former owner who used the property as a homestead in the five years before acquisition (s. 75.36(4)).
How buying works in Dane County
Bid through the Treasurer's Tax Deeded Land Sales process when a sale is open: the bid form, the appraised value for each parcel and the submission instructions post with the sale. Bids are delivered or mailed to the Dane County Treasurer's Office, City-County Building, 210 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Madison. There is no standing bidder registration outside an open sale.
- The appraisal is the market's first opinion, and the floor. Under s. 75.69 a county cannot sell below appraised value, so the interesting Wisconsin parcels are the ones where the appraisal is stale, the property has changed, or two sale rounds have taught the county its floor is wrong. Research the parcel against the appraisal, not against the tax amount, which the buyer never sees as a price.
- Time is the real inventory cost. A parcel entering delinquency today reaches a county sale years later: certificate period, deed or foreclosure, appraisal, then the sale round. The buyers who do well in Wisconsin work the standing lists and repeat sales patiently instead of waiting for a single annual event that does not exist.
Terms: what a bid actually costs
| Deposit, Dane County | The deposit or earnest money terms of the current Dane County bid packet were not verified in the sources read, so no figure is stated here. Read the bid packet for the open sale before bidding; Wisconsin counties in this set that publish terms require the balance in full shortly after acceptance. |
| Payment, Dane County | Payment terms are set by the bid packet for each sale. The statutory frame is fixed: the county sells land it already owns under ss. 75.35 and 75.69, conveyances are executed by the county clerk, and no parcel sold under s. 75.69 may go for less than its appraised value. |
| What is sold | Tax-deeded land: real estate the county already owns, taken by tax deed, foreclosure of tax certificate, deed in lieu, or in rem judgment under s. 75.521 (s. 75.35(1)). You are buying land from the county, not a lien, and there is no certificate yield to model. |
| When you can buy | Only after the county holds title. The delinquency years, the certificate period (generally two years) and the deed or foreclosure process all happen before any public sale. A Wisconsin parcel cannot be bought early at any stage of that pipeline. |
| The price floor | Where the county sells under s. 75.69, no property may be sold for less than its appraised value. Counties that sell under s. 75.35 board-set terms may express the same discipline as a minimum bid or a listed appraised price; read the county's own terms, because the floor is the number every bid is measured against. |
| Redemption | Redemption belongs to the period before the county takes title: from the county treasurer while the certificate runs, until the deed is recorded on the tax deed route, or until the last day fixed in the in rem notice. Once the county holds title and sells, there is no redemption from the county's buyer. |
| The former owner's rights | Before the county sells, the former owner of a single-family owner-occupied property holds a statutory repurchase right the county board must provide by ordinance (s. 75.35(3)), on payment of the county's costs and the taxes that would have been owed. On a sale, proceeds are distributed under s. 75.36, and a former owner who used the property as a homestead in the five years before acquisition receives the remainder. |
| The deed | Conveyances are executed by the county clerk under the clerk's hand and the seal of the county (s. 75.35(2)(c)). Counties in this set convey by quitclaim deed as their standard practice; warranty deeds appear only by exception in individual records. |
Unsold parcels: they stay on the Treasurer's list
A Dane County parcel that draws no acceptable bid is not discounted at a second auction on a fixed calendar. It remains county tax deeded land under the treasurer's management and can be reoffered in a later sale, including the spring sale the county sometimes runs when inventory warrants. The Tax Deeded Land Sales page is the standing list to watch between sales.
Before you bid
- Forget the lien auction playbook. There is no certificate to buy, no rate to bid down and no redemption premium to collect in Wisconsin. Every number that matters sits on the land side: appraised value, condition, title after the county's acquisition, and the county's sale terms.
- Check the former owner's position before you price. The repurchase right and the proceeds rules mean some parcels come to sale with a former owner who can still act, and homestead proceeds follow the former owner after your purchase, not you. Read the county ordinance provisions for the parcel's sale round.
- Assume the sale calendar is a watch, not a date. Most Wisconsin counties in this set sell when inventory and appraisals are ready: standing lists, sealed bid rounds and platform auctions through the year. The pages that name no date are telling the truth about the system.
- Set the maximum before you bid. The free Max-Bid Calculator below works backwards from your exit value to the highest bid you can pay, with the costs shown.
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New York tax sales · Florida tax deed sales · Texas tax sales · Pennsylvania tax sales · Georgia tax sales · North Carolina tax foreclosure sales · Ohio tax foreclosure sales · Illinois tax lien sales · Michigan tax foreclosure sales · Arizona tax lien sales · California tax defaulted property sales · Colorado tax lien sales · South Carolina tax sales · Indiana tax lien sales · Tennessee delinquent tax sales · Missouri tax sales