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Tax Sale Atlas

Dallas County, IA tax sales

Tax Sale Atlas maps the Dallas County, IA tax sale, one of 2,553 counties in 30 states. Iowa sells tax lien certificates paying up to 24%. Sale office, calendar and list locations read from the county’s own official pages on Jul 29, 2026.

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

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

Next sale
Iowa holds no tax deed auction.
Format
In person
County office
(515) 993-5808
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Jul 29, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page

How Dallas County sells delinquent taxes

From lien to deed

Iowa holds no separate tax deed auction. The county treasurer makes out a deed for each parcel sold and unredeemed immediately after 90 days have expired from the date of completed service of the notice of expiration of the right of redemption, once the holder returns the certificate of purchase and pays the deed and recording fees.

Tax certificate sale (lien)

In person
Run by
Dallas County Treasurer
Frequency
annual
Next expected
on the third Monday in June, 2027 (window; exact date posts closer to the sale)
Sale list
2026 Delinquent Tax List (XLS)
When it runs
The county Tax Sale page states "The Annual Tax Sale takes place in June of each year." The published terms for the most recent cycle read: "The 2026 annual tax sale will be held by the Dallas County Treasurer on Monday, June 15, 2026, at the Dallas County Administration Building at 800 Court St., 1st Floor, Adel, IA. The tax sale will begin promptly at 9:00 a.m. and continue until every parcel has been offered for sale." Doors open at 8:30 a.m. The Treasurer then adjourns the sale to 9:00 a.m. on the third Monday of every month, moving to the next business day when that Monday is a legal holiday.
Registration and deposit

Bidders pre-register by mail or delivery to the Treasurer, not through an online auction site. For the June 15, 2026 sale the terms required registration by 4:30 p.m. on Friday, June 5, 2026, with a non-refundable $10.00 registration fee that covers the June sale and all associated adjourned sales. Four forms are required: Registration of Tax Sale Bidder or Assignee, W-9, Authorization to Represent Bidder (only if someone other than the bidder attends), and an ACH Authorization form used to debit purchases and to pay redemption proceeds back. Registration packets go to Dallas County Treasurer, Tax Sale Registration, 800 Court St., Suite 111, Adel, IA 50003. The Treasurer caps the sale at 35 bidders because of the size of the room, and each bidding entity may hold up to 20 bidder numbers, each with its own taxpayer ID. Pre-registered bidders pick up bidder numbers at the sale site between 8:30 and 8:45 a.m. Buyers must be 18 or older and must show a driver's license or birth certificate to enter the sale room.

Sale format and venue
Dallas County runs its annual tax sale live and in person, not online. The published terms place the sale in the Dallas County Administration Building at 800 Court St. in Adel and prohibit cell phones, pagers, recorders and camcorders in the room, with laptops allowed only on battery power. No online auction platform is named anywhere on the county Tax Sale page or in the terms, so investors should plan to attend or to send an authorized representative. Bidding runs as a bid-down of undivided interest: each parcel opens at 100% undivided interest and active bidders bid down in whole percentage points from 99% to 1%. Ties are broken by a random selection program, and the bidder drawn must immediately accept or pass. The sale runs in two sessions, real estate first and mobile homes second, with parcels called in numerical sequence by parcel number within taxing district, so bidders need the sequence numbers from the official publication before the sale. A bidder who cannot attend may submit a written bid, but a bid from someone present at the sale beats a mailed bid on the same item. Payment is due at the end of the sale or when the buyer leaves, collected by ACH debit from the account on the ACH Authorization form the same day, and a rejected payment forfeits the parcels and bars the bidder from later sales. Certificates carry a $20.00 certificate fee and redemptions pay 2% per month from the month of sale, with any fraction of a month counted as a whole month. The Treasurer keeps the original certificates in the office and emails buyers a copy. The delinquent tax list is published in a Dallas County newspaper of general circulation in June, posted on the county site as a spreadsheet, and available in paper at the Treasurer's Office. One caution: iowatreasurers.org is the statewide Iowa County Treasurers portal used to pay subsequent taxes on certificates you already hold, and its "Register And Bid For Tax Sales" path serves counties that sell online. It is not the venue for the Dallas County sale, so do not treat it as this county's bidding platform. Dates and fees shift year to year, so confirm the current terms with the Treasurer before registering. In person at the county Administration Building, no online bidding platform
Source: Dallas County, Iowa - Terms and Conditions Governing the Annual Tax Sale of June 15, 2026· Verified Jul 29, 2026

Dallas County tax sale list and auction calendar

For Dallas 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.

  1. Get the advertised list

    Use 2026 Delinquent Tax List (XLS) 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

    Iowa holds no tax deed 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 County Treasurer as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.

Before you bid in Dallas County

  1. Start with the live sale list

    Pull the current advertised parcels from 2026 Delinquent Tax List (XLS). Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.

  2. Confirm registration and deposit

    Bidders pre-register by mail or delivery to the Treasurer, not through an online auction site. For the June 15, 2026 sale the terms required registration by 4:30 p.m. on Friday, June 5, 2026, with a non-refundable $10.00 registration fee that covers the June sale and all associated adjourned sales. Four forms are required: Registration of Tax Sale Bidder or Assignee, W-9, Authorization to Represent Bidder (only if someone other than the bidder attends), and an ACH Authorization form used to debit purchases and to pay redemption proceeds back. Registration packets go to Dallas County Treasurer, Tax Sale Registration, 800 Court St., Suite 111, Adel, IA 50003. The Treasurer caps the sale at 35 bidders because of the size of the room, and each bidding entity may hold up to 20 bidder numbers, each with its own taxpayer ID. Pre-registered bidders pick up bidder numbers at the sale site between 8:30 and 8:45 a.m. Buyers must be 18 or older and must show a driver's license or birth certificate to enter the sale room.

  3. Check the state rules that change the bid

    Read the Iowa due-diligence checklist before bidding. Redemption, liens that survive a tax deed, title cleanup, and payment deadlines can change what a parcel is worth.

  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

Two routes reach parcels after the June sale. Parcels that remain unsold for want of bidders are carried to adjourned sales, which the treasurer sets at intervals of not more than two months until the next annual sale. Separately, certificates struck to the county at the public bidder sale may be assigned by the county for the total amount due on the date of assignment, or for a compromised amount, under a written agreement filed with the treasurer and a 10 dollar assignment transaction fee. Ask the county treasurer which county-held certificates are available for assignment.

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

Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.

County offices

Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)

Dallas County Treasurer's Office

(515) 993-5808

800 Court Street, Suite 111, Administration Building, Adel, IA 50003

Official website

County notes

  • Dallas County's county seat is Adel, and the Treasurer's Property Tax Division sits in the Administration Building at 800 Court Street.
  • The Treasurer's Office lists its duties as conducting the tax sale, processing tax sale redemptions, and issuing tax sale deeds.
  • Alongside the terms and the delinquent list, the county posts the Tax Sale Bidder Registration form, the Authorization to Represent Bidder form, the ACH Authorization form, the W-9, the Application and Affidavit for Redemption, and a Past Tax Sale Statistics sheet on the same Tax Sale page.
  • Certificate holders can pay subsequent taxes through iowatreasurers.org by registering as a Tax Sale Investor, or by written request to the Treasurer at $2.00 per parcel under Iowa Code Section 445.5(3).
  • The Treasurer issues a 1099-INT to buyers at the end of each calendar year for interest collected on redemptions.
  • Office contact details from the terms: phone (515) 993-5808, fax (515) 993-5855, email propertytax@dallascountyiowa.gov.

Iowa rules

Max interest rate
24% per year, fixed by statute (not bid down)
Minimum return
No statutory minimum return; what you earn is set by the share of ownership taken at the sale
Redemption
A parcel may be redeemed at any time before the right of redemption expires. After one year and nine months from the date of sale, the certificate holder may serve a notice of expiration of the right of redemption on the person in possession, the person in whose name the parcel is taxed, and every mortgagee, contract vendor, recorded lessor, and other party of record. The right of redemption then ends 90 days after that service is complete, which means the affidavit of service has been filed with the county treasurer. Three shortened tracks exist: nine months from a public bidder sale under section 446.18, and three months from an abandoned-property or public nuisance sale under section 446.19A or 446.19B. After the treasurer delivers the deed, redemption is possible only through an equitable action in district court, and only by a person who could have redeemed during the 90-day window.
Surplus proceeds
No surplus arises. The deed conveys the parcel to the certificate holder rather than selling it to the highest bidder, so there are no excess proceeds to distribute. Where the winning bid was less than 100 percent, the deed conveys only that undivided percentage interest in the parcel.
Governing statute
Iowa Code Chapter 446

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 Iowarules and every county →

Frequently asked questions

Does Dallas County, Iowa sell tax liens or tax deeds?

Tax lien certificates. In Iowa investors buy the lien, not the property; the County Treasurer runs the sale.

When is the Dallas County tax certificate sale?

The county Tax Sale page states "The Annual Tax Sale takes place in June of each year." The published terms for the most recent cycle read: "The 2026 annual tax sale will be held by the Dallas County Treasurer on Monday, June 15, 2026, at the Dallas County Administration Building at 800 Court St., 1st Floor, Adel, IA. The tax sale will begin promptly at 9:00 a.m. and continue until every parcel has been offered for sale." Doors open at 8:30 a.m. The Treasurer then adjourns the sale to 9:00 a.m. on the third Monday of every month, moving to the next business day when that Monday is a legal holiday. The sale is held in person. Always confirm the exact date with the County Treasurer before the sale.

How often does Dallas County hold tax deed sales?

Dallas County holds its tax deed sale none. Iowa holds no tax deed 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. Iowa's redemption rule: 1 year 9 months from the sale before the notice of expiration can be served, then 90 days after service is complete. Call the County Treasurer 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 Dallas County tax sale list?

Dallas County posts its tax sale list at dallascountyiowa.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 29, 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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Call Dallas County Treasurer's Office