Whitley County, IN tax sales
Tax Sale Atlas maps the Whitley County, IN tax sale, one of 2,553 counties in 30 states. Indiana sells tax lien certificates paying up to 15%, redeemable for 1 year. Sale office, calendar and list locations read from the county’s own official pages on Jul 30, 2026.
How tax lien sales work in Whitley County, seat of Columbia City: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
New to tax sales? Read how Indiana tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.
- Next sale
- The annual tax sale runs in the fall.
- Format
- ZEUS
- Registration
- Register online with SRI at https://sriservices.com/.
- County office
- (260) 248-3105
On this page
How Whitley County sells delinquent taxes
From lien to deed
Indiana holds no general public tax deed auction. Once the redemption period runs out, the certificate holder files a verified petition in the same court that entered the judgment of sale, and the court directs the county auditor to issue the deed. That petition must be filed no later than three months after the redemption period expires, or the purchaser's lien terminates. One narrow exception exists: real property a county, city, or town executive has certified as vacant or abandoned is auctioned separately, and there the county auditor deeds fee simple title straight to the highest bidder with no right of redemption.
Tax certificate sale (lien)
- Run by
- Whitley County Treasurer, acting jointly with the Whitley County Auditor. SRI Incorporated administers the sale, and the Whitley County Commissioners conduct the separate Commissioners' Certificate Sale.
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- The annual tax sale runs in the fall.
- Registration
- Register online with SRI at https://sriservices.com/.
When it runs
Registration and deposit
Register online with SRI at https://sriservices.com/. Per the county notice, "This registration is good for all counties that SRI services. You need to register only once for all counties." Bring the completed registration form and a W9 form to the sale, both printable from the registration site, and arrive at least 30 minutes before the start time to be assured of a bid number before bidding begins. Bidders without computer access may register the morning of the sale. Under IC 6-1.1-24-5.1, a business entity that seeks to register to bid at the Whitley County Tax Sale must provide the Whitley County Treasurer a Certificate of Existence or Foreign Registration Statement from the Secretary of State. For the online Commissioners' Certificate Sale, the notice directs bidders to registration information and bidding procedures at https://www.zeusauction.com.
Sale format and venue
Whitley County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Whitley 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.
Get the advertised list
Use 2025 Tax Sale List (Notice of Real Property Tax Sale) for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.Register to bid
Sale day
The annual tax sale runs in the fall. Bidding runs on ZEUS; check posted sale dates, registration status, and bidding windows there.Confirm with the office
If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use Whitley County Treasurer, acting jointly with the Whitley County Auditor. SRI Incorporated administers the sale, and the Whitley County Commissioners conduct the separate Commissioners' Certificate Sale. as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Whitley County
4 checks
Start with the live sale list
Pull the current advertised parcels from 2025 Tax Sale List (Notice of Real Property Tax Sale). Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.Confirm registration and deposit
Register online with SRI at https://sriservices.com/. Per the county notice, "This registration is good for all counties that SRI services. You need to register only once for all counties." Bring the completed registration form and a W9 form to the sale, both printable from the registration site, and arrive at least 30 minutes before the start time to be assured of a bid number before bidding begins. Bidders without computer access may register the morning of the sale. Under IC 6-1.1-24-5.1, a business entity that seeks to register to bid at the Whitley County Tax Sale must provide the Whitley County Treasurer a Certificate of Existence or Foreign Registration Statement from the Secretary of State. For the online Commissioners' Certificate Sale, the notice directs bidders to registration information and bidding procedures at https://www.zeusauction.com.
Check the state rules that change the bid
Read the Indiana due-diligence checklist before bidding. Redemption, liens that survive a tax deed, title cleanup, and payment deadlines can change what a parcel is worth.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
unsold certificates
Parcels that draw no bid at the treasurer's tax sale pass to the county executive, which acquires a lien for the minimum sale price and receives a tax sale certificate. The county executive may then adopt a resolution and offer those certificates at a separate advertised public sale, often called the commissioners' certificate sale, priced below the minimum bid that failed at the tax sale. Notice runs once a week for three consecutive weeks with the final advertisement at least 30 days before the sale. This is a scheduled sale rather than a walk-in list, and redemption on a certificate bought this way is 120 days. Check the county auditor page for the next commissioners' certificate sale date.
New to this path? Read how over-the-counter certificates work. Every state has its own name for what goes unsold, so check what Indiana calls its leftover tax-sale inventory.
Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.
County offices
Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)
County notes
- Treasurer's office hours are 8:00 am to 4:30 pm Monday through Friday. Kay Gatton is the elected Treasurer and Amy Cook is Chief Deputy.
- Whitley County Auditor: 220 W Van Buren St, Columbia City, IN 46725, phone (260) 248-3100, fax (260) 248-3187, hours 8:00 am to 4:30 pm Monday through Friday. The Auditor's own Tax Sale page simply directs readers to the SRI tax sale site.
- Both the Treasurer and the Auditor direct taxpayers to https://lowtaxinfo.com/whitleycounty for property tax information, and the Treasurer's Tax Sale page points investors to www.sriservices.com for parcel status and the tax sale process.
- The Treasurer's Tax Sale page states that all parcels with a balance due from spring of the prior year or before are eligible for tax sale, that delinquent tax bills can be paid up to the day before the sale to remove a parcel from the listing, and that an owner has a year to redeem after a tax sale.
- The 2026 Commissioners' Certificate Sale notice lists minimum bids of $250.00 on many parcels, and states that redemption after a certificate sale requires the minimum bid under Section 5 of IC 6-1.1-24 for which the parcel was last offered, plus ten percent of the amount the certificate sold for, plus notice, title search, and sale costs, plus ten percent per annum on taxes and special assessments the purchaser pays after the certificate sale.
- Sale notices are published only once in newspapers under current Indiana law. The county states that subsequent notices can be found at www.whitleycounty.in.gov, so the Treasurer's Tax Sale page and its News and Notices list are the places to watch for the current year's list and venue.
- The county's public GIS parcel viewer is Beacon (Schneider Corporation), linked from the Treasurer's Tax Sale page as "Tax information available on GIS site."
Indiana rules
- Redemption
- The standard period is one year after the date of the treasurer's tax sale. Several tracks run 120 days instead: a certificate bought at the county executive's certificate sale, a lien the county executive holds that was never sold on, a sale to a purchasing agency qualified under IC 36-7-17 or IC 36-7-17.1, a certificate the county executive assigns to another political subdivision, and a parcel that was not offered at the tax sale at all. Property on the county auditor's vacant and abandoned list carries no right of redemption after its sale. A county treasurer may also extend redemption by agreement with the owner, in which case the extended period ends one year after the date of that agreement.
- Surplus proceeds
- The treasurer applies the payment first to the taxes, assessments, penalties, and costs in the minimum bid, then to other delinquent property taxes, then deposits the remainder in a tax sale surplus fund. The owner of record at the time the parcel was certified for sale, or the purchaser on a redemption, may file a verified claim against that fund. Unclaimed surplus transfers to the county general fund three years after it was received.
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.
Frequently asked questions
Does Whitley County, Indiana sell tax liens or tax deeds?
When is the Whitley County tax certificate sale?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Whitley County tax sale list?
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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