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Tax Sale Atlas

Pocahontas County, IA tax sales

Tax Sale Atlas maps the Pocahontas 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 Pocahontas County, seat of Pocahontas: 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
County site
Registration
Registration is online only at iowataxauction.com.
County office
712-335-4334
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Jul 29, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page

How Pocahontas 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)

Online auction
Run by
Pocahontas County Treasurer
Frequency
annual
Typical timing
Annually on the third Monday in June.
Registration
Registration is online only at iowataxauction.com.
Next expected
on the third Monday in June, 2027 (window; exact date posts closer to the sale)
Sale list
Notice to Tax Sale Purchasers, terms plus where and when the delinquent list is published
When it runs
Annually on the third Monday in June. The county's 2026 notice states the sale was "held by the Pocahontas County Treasurer on Monday, June 15, 2026, in the Treasurer's office on the second floor of the Pocahontas County Courthouse, 99 Court Square, Pocahontas, Iowa, beginning at 9:00 a.m." and that bidding closed at 9:30 a.m. The treasurer adds that an "adjourned tax sale will be held any business day following the annual tax sale in which there are bidders present and there are parcels still available for sale." The county page separately confirms taxes unpaid "as of the 3rd Monday of June" are offered at tax sale under Iowa Code 446.7.
Registration and deposit

Registration is online only at iowataxauction.com. The county states no mailed or emailed registrations are accepted. For the 2026 sale, registration opened Monday, May 18, 2026 and all steps had to be completed by 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, June 11, 2026. Bidders pay a non-refundable $40.00 registration fee by ACH debit and complete an online W-9. Bidders must be 18 or older as of the sale date, and an entity bidder needs a federal tax identification number plus either a designation of agent for service of process on file with the Iowa Secretary of State or a verified trade name on file with the Pocahontas County Recorder. Registration and auction site help is available at 800-800-9588 or support@iowataxauction.com. The treasurer reserves the right to deny registration due to dishonored payments.

Sale format and venue
Bidding is entirely online. The treasurer's homepage states plainly that "all bids must be placed online. Live bids will not be accepted," even though the sale itself is conducted from the Treasurer's office in the courthouse. Bids may be uploaded before the sale but are not applied until it opens at 9:00 a.m. Each parcel starts at a 100% undivided interest and bid downs run in whole percentage points from 99% to 1%; the certificate goes to the smallest percentage bid, and ties at the low bid are broken by random selection. Pocahontas County does not use bidding batches. Winners are invoiced when the sale closes and an ACH debit is drawn automatically from the account used for the registration fee, covering delinquent taxes, special assessments, interest, collection fees, publishing costs, and a $20.00 certificate fee per certificate. Allow 7 to 15 days to receive certificates. The Delinquent Tax List is published in the Record Democrat newspaper in Pocahontas the week of May 24, and parcels are viewable on the auction site by roughly May 29, though you must finish registration to see the data. Redemption pays 2% per month. Subsequent taxes must be paid online through the "Login To Pay Subsequent Tax" module at iowatreasurers.org, at $0.25 per parcel; payments made any other way online are treated as voluntary and omitted from the redemption calculation. Certificate assignments carry a $100.00 fee and a Treasurer's tax sale deed costs $25.00 per parcel. Regular sale parcels reach the 90 day notice of right of redemption after one year and nine months; public bidder parcels, marked with an asterisk on the published list, reach it after nine months.
Register on Online auction
Source: Notice to Tax Sale Purchasers of the Terms and Conditions Governing the Annual Tax Sale of June 15 2026, Pocahontas County Treasurer (PDF)· Verified Jul 29, 2026

Pocahontas County tax sale list and auction calendar

For Pocahontas 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 Notice to Tax Sale Purchasers, terms plus where and when the delinquent list is published for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.

  2. Register to bid

    Registration is online only at iowataxauction.com. Full requirements are in the sale card above.

  3. Sale day

    Iowa holds no tax deed auction. Bidding runs on County site; check posted sale dates, registration status, and bidding windows there.

  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 Pocahontas County

  1. Start with the live sale list

    Pull the current advertised parcels from Notice to Tax Sale Purchasers, terms plus where and when the delinquent list is published. Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.

  2. Confirm registration and deposit

    Registration is online only at iowataxauction.com. The county states no mailed or emailed registrations are accepted. For the 2026 sale, registration opened Monday, May 18, 2026 and all steps had to be completed by 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, June 11, 2026. Bidders pay a non-refundable $40.00 registration fee by ACH debit and complete an online W-9. Bidders must be 18 or older as of the sale date, and an entity bidder needs a federal tax identification number plus either a designation of agent for service of process on file with the Iowa Secretary of State or a verified trade name on file with the Pocahontas County Recorder. Registration and auction site help is available at 800-800-9588 or support@iowataxauction.com. The treasurer reserves the right to deny registration due to dishonored payments.

  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)

Pocahontas County Treasurer

712-335-4334

99 Court Square, Suite 8, Pocahontas, IA 50574

Official website

County notes

  • The Treasurer's office is on the second floor of the Pocahontas County Courthouse, northwest corner, with the accessible entrance on the east side of the building. Office hours are 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.
  • Amy Johnson has served as Pocahontas County Treasurer since January 2019. The tax deputy handles tax sale matters. Fax is 712-335-5047.
  • The letterhead on the 2026 tax sale notice prints the phone number as 712-335-4344, while both the county website and the Iowa State County Treasurers Association county page list 712-335-4334. The 4334 number is the one carried on both office web pages.
  • The county's own website has no dedicated tax sale page. Sale notices, terms, and the auction link live on the county's Iowa State County Treasurers Association page, which is the page to watch each spring.
  • The published parcel list is not posted as a free public file. It runs in the Record Democrat newspaper in Pocahontas and is then loaded onto the Iowa Tax Auction site behind bidder registration.
  • Second half property taxes go delinquent April 1 and first half on October 1, at 1.5% per month. Delinquent notices go out by May 1 and November 1, which sets the run-up to the June sale.

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 Pocahontas 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 Pocahontas County tax certificate sale?

Annually on the third Monday in June. The county's 2026 notice states the sale was "held by the Pocahontas County Treasurer on Monday, June 15, 2026, in the Treasurer's office on the second floor of the Pocahontas County Courthouse, 99 Court Square, Pocahontas, Iowa, beginning at 9:00 a.m." and that bidding closed at 9:30 a.m. The treasurer adds that an "adjourned tax sale will be held any business day following the annual tax sale in which there are bidders present and there are parcels still available for sale." The county page separately confirms taxes unpaid "as of the 3rd Monday of June" are offered at tax sale under Iowa Code 446.7. Registration and bidding happen on the county's online platform. Always confirm the exact date with the County Treasurer before the sale.

How often does Pocahontas County hold tax deed sales?

Pocahontas 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 Pocahontas County tax sale list?

Pocahontas County posts its tax sale list at iowatreasurers.org. 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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Compare sale calendars, platforms, and rules across the state, or read the guides before you bid.

Iowa tax salesDue diligence guide
Call Pocahontas County TreasurerOpen auction