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Tax Sale Atlas

Knox County, IL tax sales

Tax Sale Atlas maps the Knox County, IL tax sale, one of 2,553 counties in 30 states. Illinois sells tax lien certificates paying up to 9%. Sale office, calendar and list locations read from the county’s own official pages on Jul 30, 2026.

How tax lien and tax deed sales work in Knox County, seat of Galesburg: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.

New to tax sales? Read how Illinois tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.

Next sale
Within 120 days after the court order authorizing the auction.
Format
In person
County office
309-345-3811
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Jul 30, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page

How Knox County sells delinquent taxes

Tax certificate sale (lien)

In person
Run by
Knox County Treasurer (County Collector)
Frequency
annual
Registration
Register at least 10 business days before the sale.
Sale list
Tax Sale Info page (delinquent list runs in local newspapers each mid-October; copies available from the Treasurer for a fee)
When it runs
The county states: "Knox County holds an annual real estate tax sale normally in mid-November. All delinquent taxes are sold at that time." The Treasurer publishes the delinquent list in local newspapers in mid-October, roughly a month ahead, and registration closes 10 business days before the sale.
Registration and deposit

Register at least 10 business days before the sale. Send a letter of intent to attend to the Treasurer's Office by mail or fax, and name any assistant who will attend the sale in that letter. A $50 deposit is due at registration and is applied to your purchases, but it is not refunded if you do not participate. On sale day each bidder leaves a blank check to cover purchases, with the amount per parcel covering tax, penalty and cost due. The office totals your purchases and reports the amount within 2 to 3 days, then issues and mails tax certificates once the sale is balanced.

Sale format and venue
Bidding is a rate bid-down: "The tax sale is conducted as an auction, with the lowest bidder being awarded the parcel. The percentage can be as high as 9% or as low as 0%. The percentage is a six month interest rate." The annual sale is conducted in person by the Treasurer's Office, not online. No online bidding platform is named for the annual certificate sale, and the mechanics confirm an attended sale: registration by mailed or faxed letter, named assistants, and a blank check left on sale day. The published notice carries the date, time and location of the sale, so confirm the venue in that notice or with the office. The county reports a Trustee that purchases any parcels not bid on at the sale. Each parcel sold at the tax sale carries $104 in added costs: $10 publication, $4 clerk, $10 automation, $20 indemnity and $60 sale in error. The Knox County Clerk's Office handles the tax sale certificates and can be reached at 309-345-6753. Caution on a separate sale that is easy to confuse with this one: the Illinois county tax agent site iltaxsale.com lists a Knox County tax deed sale offering trustee-held tax deed property and assignable tax certificates by sealed bid, which is a different sale from the annual November certificate sale; that tax agent lists phones 800-248-2850 and 618-656-5744. Delinquent taxes accrue a 1.5% per month penalty that is not prorated and applies the day after each due date. The Treasurer mails certified notices 15 days before the date of application for judgment, adding a $10 per parcel cost, and publishes the delinquency list 10 days before the application date. The Treasurer's Office states it cannot give legal advice on purchasing delinquent taxes and points buyers to Chapter 35 of the Illinois Compiled Statutes.
Source: Knox County Treasurer, Tax Sale Info· Verified Jul 30, 2026

Tax deed sale

Run by
Sheriff or a court-appointed private selling officer, under an order of the circuit court. A county acting as trustee runs its own tax deed auctions.
Frequency
as ordered by the circuit court
Typical timing
Within 120 days after the court order authorizing the auction.
When it runs
Within 120 days after the court order authorizing the auction. Public Act 104-0553 created this route for tax certificates issued on or after July 10, 2026, so the earliest Illinois judicial tax deed auctions fall in 2027, after the 1 year short redemption track runs.
Registration and deposit

Terms of a judicial tax deed auction, including whether it runs online, in person, or both, and what deposit is required, are set in the court's order and published in the notice of tax deed auction. That notice runs once a week for 3 consecutive weeks, starting no more than 45 days and ending no less than 7 days before the auction. Read the notice for each parcel; there is no statewide platform or standing bidder registration.

Sale format and venue
Bidding opens at the tax deed judgment amount plus 0.75 percent per month since judgment, plus publication and selling officer costs. The petitioning certificate holder is entered as a credit bidder at that minimum. Surplus above the minimum goes to the county treasurer for the former owner to claim.
Source: Public Act 104-0553 (HB 4537), enrolled text of 35 ILCS 200/22-42 (new), effective July 10, 202635 ILCS 200/22-42· Verified Jul 29, 2026

Knox County tax sale list and auction calendar

For Knox County tax sale 2026 searches, use the county-run sources below rather than a copied parcel list, and confirm the parcel, registration cutoff, deposit, and payment deadline against the county before you bid. If the parcels on this list are vacant land rather than houses, what buying land at a tax sale hands you is the place to start.

  1. Get the advertised list

    Use Tax Sale Info page (delinquent list runs in local newspapers each mid-October; copies available from the Treasurer for a fee) for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.

  2. Register to bid

    Ask the county office how and when to register; many counties close registration days or weeks before the sale.

  3. Sale day

    Within 120 days after the court order authorizing the auction. The sale is live and in person; there is no online bidding platform. Confirm the venue and hour with the county office before you go.

  4. Confirm with the office

    If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use Sheriff or a court-appointed private selling officer, under an order of the circuit court. A county acting as trustee runs its own tax deed auctions. as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.

Before you bid in Knox County

  1. Start with the live sale list

    Pull the current advertised parcels from Tax Sale Info page (delinquent list runs in local newspapers each mid-October; copies available from the Treasurer for a fee). Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.

  2. Confirm registration and deposit

    Terms of a judicial tax deed auction, including whether it runs online, in person, or both, and what deposit is required, are set in the court's order and published in the notice of tax deed auction. That notice runs once a week for 3 consecutive weeks, starting no more than 45 days and ending no less than 7 days before the auction. Read the notice for each parcel; there is no statewide platform or standing bidder registration.

  3. Check the state rules that change the bid

    Read the Illinois due-diligence checklist before bidding. Redemption, liens that survive a tax deed, title cleanup, and payment deadlines can change what a parcel is worth. Which liens survive is state law, so read what survives a tax deed in Illinois before you price the title work.

  4. Set a walk-away number

    Work out what the parcel is actually worth with the rural land value estimator, then turn it into a ceiling with the tax deed max-bid calculator.

Over-the-counter (leftover) purchases

Certificates nobody bids on at the annual sale are forfeited to the county as trustee for the taxing districts. The county may then assign a forfeited certificate to any party or sell property it has acquired, which many counties handle through a delinquent tax agent rather than a public counter. Counties may also offer county-held certificates at a scavenger sale with a minimum bid of $250, or half the tax when total liability is under $500. Ask the county collector and the county clerk which program the county runs and who may buy.

New to this path? Read how over-the-counter certificates work. Every state has its own name for what goes unsold, so check what Illinois calls its leftover tax-sale inventory.

Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.

County offices

Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)

Knox County Treasurer

309-345-3811

200 South Cherry Street, Galesburg, IL 61401

Official website

County notes

  • County seat is Galesburg. The Treasurer's Office address, 200 South Cherry Street, is the Knox County Courthouse.
  • The Tax Cycle Info page assigns the sale to the Treasurer: the Treasurer prints and mails tax bills, collects tax dollars, distributes to taxing bodies and conducts the delinquent tax sale.
  • There is no online delinquent list. The list is published once a year in mid-October in local newspapers and a copy can be obtained for a fee.
  • Second installment due dates drive the sale timeline. For the current cycle the county lists installments due July 1, 2026 and September 1, 2026.
  • Property tax records for due diligence are searchable at the county's parcel search, linked from the Treasurer's Real Estate Taxes pages.
  • The county website is behind a bot challenge that blocks plain HTTP fetches. Pages were read in a real browser session; re-verification needs the same approach.

Illinois rules

Max interest rate
9% per redemption period maximum, bid down at auction
Minimum return
No statutory minimum return; what you earn is set by the penalty rate at the sale
Redemption
Property sold at an Illinois tax sale may be redeemed at any time before the redemption period expires. Public Act 104-0553 set the standard period at 3 years from the date of sale for tax certificates issued on or after July 10, 2026. Certificates issued between January 1, 2024 and July 9, 2026 run on the earlier 2.5 year (30 month) track, and on that track the certificate holder could file a written notice with the county clerk extending redemption to a date no later than 3 years from the sale. A short 1 year period applies when the parcel was, on the date of sale, vacant non-farm property, commercial or industrial property, or improved with a structure holding 7 or more residential units. Certificates the county holds or assigns as trustee run on their own schedule under Section 21-385, and an assignee must file notice within 60 days of assignment setting a redemption deadline no later than 3 years from the assignment.
Deed deposit
Illinois does not fix a statutory deposit percentage. Deposit and payment terms are set in the court's order authorizing the auction and by the selling officer, so read the notice of tax deed auction for each sale. A purchaser who fails to complete the sale forfeits any deposit already made to the county surplus equity fund, and the court orders a new auction of the property.
Surplus proceeds
Any amount by which the winning bid exceeds the minimum bid is surplus. Within 30 days after the court confirms the sale the selling officer deposits the surplus with the county treasurer, who notifies everyone who received the Section 22-10 take notice that the owner at the time of the sale may file a claim for it. A county running its own tax deed auction deposits surplus with the treasurer within 30 days of the sale and notifies interested parties within 60 days. Separately, a previous owner who lost equity through a tax deed can claim an award from the county surplus equity fund, capped at the value of the property when the deed issued less mortgages, liens, and the taxes the purchaser paid.
Governing statute
35 ILCS 200, Articles 21 and 22

A tax deed does not convey marketable title. Most buyers file a quiet title action before they can resell or insure the property. See the due diligence guide.

See the full Illinoisrules and every county →

Frequently asked questions

Does Knox County, Illinois sell tax liens or tax deeds?

Knox County follows Illinois's tax lien state system.

When is the Knox County tax certificate sale?

The county states: "Knox County holds an annual real estate tax sale normally in mid-November. All delinquent taxes are sold at that time." The Treasurer publishes the delinquent list in local newspapers in mid-October, roughly a month ahead, and registration closes 10 business days before the sale. The sale is held in person. Always confirm the exact date with the County Collector before the sale.

How often does Knox County hold tax deed sales?

Knox County holds its tax deed sale as ordered by the circuit court. Within 120 days after the court order authorizing the auction. Each sale is scheduled and advertised in advance, so check the county's tax deed calendar for the next posted date.

I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?

Often yes, by paying the overdue taxes, interest, and costs before the deadline. Illinois's redemption rule: 3 years from the date of sale, or 1 year for vacant non-farm, commercial, industrial, and 7-or-more-unit residential property. Call the Sheriff or a court-appointed private selling officer, under an order of the circuit court. A county acting as trustee runs its own tax deed auctions. as early as possible for your exact payoff and options; deadlines are strict. Free help: lawhelp.org lists legal aid programs, and consumerfinance.gov lists HUD-approved housing counselors.

Where can I find the Knox County tax sale list?

Knox County posts its tax sale list at knoxcountyil.gov. Lists go up ahead of each sale and keep changing until the sale date, so confirm every parcel against the county's legal advertisement before you bid.

Verified Jul 30, 2026 against official county and state sources.

Tax Sale Atlas publishes educational information about public tax sale processes. This is not legal, financial, or investment advice. Rules, dates, and fees change; confirm with the county office before you bid.

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