Nebraska · Law checked October 19, 2026

Nebraska tax sale: your deadline, your office, your money

Behind on property taxes in Nebraska? Your house can be sold at a tax sale — here's how much time you have to stop it. Your house was sold at a tax sale in Nebraska? The extra money from the sale may be yours to claim — and there's a deadline. Both answers are on this page, from the statute.

Count my Nebraska deadline

How Nebraska sells

The machine, in four lines

Door one: getting the house back (redemption)

Your window: 3 years from the sale — and redemption actually runs until the buyer applies for the tax deed (possible in the 9 months after year 3) once a 3-month notice has run. Treat the 3 years as your deadline, counted from the certificate sale date. Statute-verified

What it costs to redeem: The certificate amount + later taxes, with interest at 14% per year.

Source: Neb. Rev. Stat. §§77-1824, 77-1837; §45-104.01

Before any sale: your quieter doors

Payment plans: No statutory payment-plan right found.

Deferrals (senior / veteran / disability): None found. (The homestead exemption is an exemption, not a deferral.)

Door two: the extra money (surplus)

Who holds the money: the The deed buyer (grantee) — by law, they must pay you.

Your claim window: Under Nebraska's new surplus law (operative April 17, 2026): within 30 days after the tax deed is recorded, the buyer must pay the previous owner the surplus — the property's resale price since the deed (or its assessed value at the deed application if unsold), minus the redemption amount, all encumbrances, and a $500 administrative fee. If they do not pay, your claim is against the buyer, with the treasurer's records as your proof. Statute-verified

If nobody claims it: The new section states no escheat/forfeiture path for unpaid surplus.

Source: Neb. Rev. Stat. §77-1838(2)

The county figure rule. This page gives you the law — the window, the formula, the office. The exact payoff or surplus figure lives in the County treasurer's books and changes as interest runs. Ask that office for the figure, in writing, and keep the letter.

Included in the $49 TaxSaleDecoded Kit

  • The surplus claim pack: how to prove the house was yours (deed records, address history, ID), the claim-form path in your state, and what to do when the county says it has no record of your money
  • The redemption playbook: your state's window and cost formula worked step by step, who to pay, how to prove you paid, and the traps in the payoff figure (added fees and interest)
  • The heirs page: the house was a parent's — what changes, which papers prove you are an heir, and the point where it stops being simple
  • The scam shield: how surplus-recovery companies work, the fee caps your state sets for them, and the assignment papers you should never sign
  • The lookback module: what Tyler won, what Pung limited (the extra money is the sale price minus the debt — not your home's value), and the dated state lookbacks, including Illinois claims that die in July 2028

Get the TaxSaleDecoded Kit — $49

One payment of $49. No subscription. The kit is a web page you can return to and print — the claim pack, the redemption playbook, the heirs page, and the scam shield.

All 50 states · The surplus, explained · Redemption, explained