Howard County tax sales, Indiana

Verified

Howard County ran its 2026 sale in person on October 27, 2026 in the Commissioners' Meeting Room in Kokomo, administered with SRI and carrying the same reserved switch to ZeusAuction online that Madison County used. The notice builds the minimum bid with a $25 postage charge, requires the completed registration form and an IRS Form W-9 in hand on sale morning, and allows a person without computer or internet access to register the morning of the sale. The notice and the Treasurer's page read do not name the officeholder, so this page names the office.

Selling office: Howard County Treasurer (the officeholder is not named in the county sale material read), Howard County Administration Center, 220 North Main Street, Kokomo, IN 46901

Next sale: 2026 tax sale, Tuesday, October 27, 2026, 10:00 a.m., in person in the Commissioners' Meeting Room 338, Kokomo, completed. The sale continued until all tracts had been offered. At the discretion of local officials it could switch to an online format at zeusauction.com at the same date and time, with location updates posted at sriservices.com. The notice is dated September 11, 2026; the auditor and treasurer applied on or after October 9, 2026 for a court judgment. No later dated sale is published in the sources read.

The Treasurer's page publishes the 2026 tax deadlines as May 11, 2026 and November 10, 2026, the two dates that decide which parcels reach the next certified list.

Dates and deadlines

Next sale	2026 tax sale, Tuesday, October 27, 2026, 10:00 a.m., in person in the Commissioners' Meeting Room 338, Kokomo, completed
The sale	The Howard County Treasurer sold tax sale certificates in person on October 27, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. local time in the Commissioners' Meeting Room 338, Howard County Administration Center, continuing until all tracts were offered, with SRI administering and an online switch to zeusauction.com reserved at the same date and time.
The list	A complete property list may be obtained at sriservices.com; subsequent notices are posted at howardcountyin.gov. No parcel total is published in the notice text read for this record, so no count is stated here.
Registration	Register online at sriservices.com; one registration covers all counties SRI services. Bidders bring the completed registration form and IRS Form W-9 on the morning of the sale and arrive at least 30 minutes before the sale; a person without computer or internet access may register the morning of the sale. A business entity must provide a Certificate of Existence or Foreign Registration Statement to the Howard County Treasurer.
Bidding and the certificate	Bidding starts at the statutory minimum bid. The winning bidder receives a tax sale certificate, a lien, not a deed, and any overbid goes to the tax sale surplus fund under IC 6-1.1-24-7. Howard County's notice builds the minimum bid with a $25 postage and publication charge on top of the statutory components.
Redemption	The owner may redeem within one year after the date of sale by paying the amount required by IC 6-1.1-25-2 to the county treasurer. Property on the auditor vacant and abandoned list under IC 6-1.1-24-1.5 has no right of redemption.
Unsold parcels	Parcels receiving no bid pass to the county executive lien layer under IC 6-1.1-24-6 and may later be offered in a commissioners certificate sale under IC 6-1.1-24-6.1 at a price below the prior minimum bid.
Format	In person with SRI at the Howard County Administration Center, Kokomo, with a reserved switch to ZeusAuction online
Selling office	Howard County Treasurer

Sources: Howard County, 2026 Tax Sale Advertisement. Howard County Treasurer. 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 Howard 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 Howard County, searchable by address, owner, or county, including parcels that never reach a sale list.

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How Indiana tax lien sales work

Unpaid taxes become a lien, and the treasurer certifies the list. A parcel becomes eligible when taxes or special assessments from the prior year spring installment or before are delinquent. Under IC 6-1.1-24-1 the county treasurer certifies the delinquent list to the county auditor on or after January 1 of the sale year and not later than fifty one days after the first tax payment due date in that year, and the auditor and treasurer then apply for a court judgment and order for sale.
The treasurer sells, and the auditor keeps the record. Under IC 6-1.1-24-5(e) the county treasurer sells the parcel at public auction to the highest bidder, subject to the right of redemption, and under IC 6-1.1-24-5(g) the county auditor serves as clerk of the sale. The treasurer may run the sale by electronic means under IC 6-1.1-24-5(i), and most counties in this set sell online in the fall through SRI Incorporated on ZeusAuction. Marion County is the exception in this set: it sells on GovEase.
Bidding opens at the minimum bid, and the overbid leaves the deal. The minimum bid under IC 6-1.1-24-5(e) is the delinquent taxes and special assessments, the taxes and assessments due in the year of sale, penalties, sale costs, and any unpaid costs from a prior sale. The purchaser pays the full bid immediately to the treasurer under IC 6-1.1-24-7; the minimum bid portion is applied to the taxes and costs, and anything paid above it goes to the tax sale surplus fund.
Redemption pays fixed percentages, not a bid rate. Under IC 6-1.1-25-2 the redeemer pays 110 percent of the minimum bid if the parcel is redeemed within six months of the sale, or 115 percent if it is redeemed after six months and within the year, plus the overbid itself with interest at 5 percent per year, plus later taxes the purchaser paid with interest at 5 percent per year, plus the notice and title costs the statute allows. Nothing in Indiana is bid down or bid up: the percentages are the same in every county.
Some parcels sell with no redemption at all, and unsold certificates go to the commissioners. A parcel on the county vacant and abandoned list under IC 6-1.1-24-1.5 has no right of redemption after its sale. For an ordinary parcel the deed is earned on deadlines: the notice under IC 6-1.1-25-4.5 within six months, and the petition for a tax deed under IC 6-1.1-25-4.6 within three months after the redemption year expires. Parcels nobody bids on pass to the county executive under IC 6-1.1-24-6 and are offered again at a commissioners certificate sale under IC 6-1.1-24-6.1, at a price below the original minimum bid, with a redemption period of only 120 days.

How bidding works in Howard County

Register once with SRI online, then arrive at least 30 minutes early with the completed registration form and IRS Form W-9 in hand; the county expressly allows morning of sale registration for a person without computer access, which is a fallback, not a plan.

The percentages are fixed, so the overbid sets your real rate. Redemption can pay no more than 115 percent of the minimum bid, and everything above the minimum earns 5 percent. A parcel won at twice its minimum bid returns close to 5 percent overall even if the owner redeems on the best possible day. The disciplined Indiana bid stays at or near the minimum and lets other bidders own the expensive parcels.
The certificate dies on missed deadlines. The notice under IC 6-1.1-25-4.5 is due within six months of the sale and the deed petition within three months after the redemption year ends. Indiana pays the bidder who runs a calendar, and quietly confiscates the position of the bidder who does not.

Terms: what a bid actually costs

Deposit, Howard County	No bidder deposit amount is stated in the county's official 2026 notice, so none is stated here.
Payment, Howard County	Under IC 6-1.1-24-7 the purchaser pays the amount of the bid to the county treasurer immediately at the sale. A purchaser who fails to pay the bid faces the civil penalty in IC 6-1.1-24-8, twenty five percent of the amount of the bid, and the parcel is again offered for sale.
What is sold	A tax sale certificate: a lien on the property for the delinquent taxes, penalties and sale costs. Not the property, not a deed, and no right to enter or use it. A deed exists only at the end of the notice and petition process, after the redemption period expires unredeemed.
The minimum bid	Set by IC 6-1.1-24-5(e): the delinquent taxes and special assessments, the taxes and assessments due and payable in the year of sale, penalties on the delinquencies, an auditor amount for postage and publication and other sale costs, and any unpaid costs from a prior tax sale. Every bid is measured against that floor.
The overbid	Any amount paid above the minimum bid goes to the tax sale surplus fund under IC 6-1.1-24-7; the county does not keep it as taxes. On redemption it is returned to the purchaser with interest at 5 percent per year for sales after June 30, 2014 (IC 6-1.1-25-2). It is the part of the bid that earns the least, and it is most of the bid on a contested parcel.
Redemption money	One hundred ten percent of the minimum bid if the parcel is redeemed not more than six months after the sale, or one hundred fifteen percent if redeemed more than six months but not more than one year after the sale, plus the overbid with 5 percent interest, plus taxes and special assessments the purchaser paid after the sale with 5 percent interest, plus the notice and title costs allowed by IC 6-1.1-25-2(e).
Redemption periods	One year after the date of sale for an ordinary parcel (IC 6-1.1-25-4(a)). No right of redemption at all for a parcel sold from the vacant and abandoned list under IC 6-1.1-24-1.5. One hundred twenty days for a commissioners certificate sold under IC 6-1.1-24-6.1 (IC 6-1.1-25-4(c)). Read the parcel's list status before pricing any of the three.
The deed path	Notice under IC 6-1.1-25-4.5 not later than six months after the sale, or ninety days for a commissioners or county held certificate, then a petition for a tax deed under IC 6-1.1-25-4.6 after the redemption period expires and not later than three months after it expires. Miss either window and the certificate is spent, whatever was paid for it.

Unsold parcels: the commissioners certificate sale

If a parcel receives no bid, the county executive acquires a lien under IC 6-1.1-24-6. The board of commissioners may then identify those certificates by resolution and sell them under IC 6-1.1-24-6.1 for a price less than the minimum sale price in IC 6-1.1-24-5, plus the county costs directly attributable to that sale. A buyer of a commissioners certificate faces a one hundred twenty day redemption period counted from the sale of the certificate under IC 6-1.1-25-4(c). No Howard County commissioners certificate sale is published in the official sources read for this record.

Before you bid

Read the parcel's list status before its rate. A parcel on the vacant and abandoned list sells with no right of redemption at all, which makes it a different purchase from the identical parcel one line up the list. The list a parcel was sold from is part of its price.
Assume the 2026 sale already ran. Indiana's season is September and October for most counties in this set, and every dated 2026 sale here was complete when these pages were checked. Treat this set as the verified 2026 record and the 2027 working map, and confirm the new season's dates with the treasurer.
Model the overbid at 5 percent, not at the headline percentages. The 110 and 115 percent figures apply to the minimum bid only. Run the redemption case with your full bid in the denominator before deciding what a parcel is worth to you.
Set the maximum before the sale opens. 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 · Tennessee delinquent tax sales