Wisconsin · Law checked October 19, 2026

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

Behind on property taxes in Wisconsin? 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 Wisconsin? 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 Wisconsin deadline

How Wisconsin sells

The machine, in four lines

Door one: getting the house back (redemption)

Redemption in Wisconsin runs until the deed is issued — Until the county takes its tax deed or files in rem — generally not before 2 years after the certificate issues (1 year for counties of 750,000+ and certain city tracks). Redeem at the treasurer's office before either move Statute-verified

What it costs to redeem: The certificate amount + interest at 1% per month + penalties of 0.5% per month (Wis. Stat. §74.47).

Source: Wis. Stat. §§75.19, 75.521

Before any sale: your quieter doors

Payment plans: Yes — the treasurer may allow delinquent taxes to be paid in up to 10 installments with a written agreement (§74.66), which stops foreclosure while you comply.

Deferrals (senior / veteran / disability): Yes — the elderly tax-deferral loan program (WHEDA, §234.621 et seq.): state loans to pay delinquent taxes for 65+ homeowners (deferral loans were also extended to veterans in a later act whose operative text was not verified here).

Door two: the extra money (surplus)

Who holds the money: the County treasurer (on the county's later sale of the tax-deeded property).

Your claim window: When the county later sells the tax-deeded property, the net proceeds above its tax and interest claim belong to the former owner — ask the treasurer IN WRITING, promptly. Flag: the statute text is in flux — an older text required a written request within 60 days and let the county deduct the greater of $500 plus half the gain or its costs plus 2%; the current text pays net proceeds and forfeits them only if the owner cannot be located within 5 years of notice. Which text governs depends on your parcel's track; the treasurer must tell you. Being double-checked

If nobody claims it: Under the current text, net proceeds are forfeited to the county only if the owner cannot be located within 5 years after notice of potential excess proceeds.

Source: Wis. Stat. §§75.35(2m), 75.36(2m)

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