How to buy tax-sale property in Arkansas (2026)

1. 1.Register before the sale as specified in the notice; registration requires a valid driver's license number, expiration date, and issuing state, a photo identification, and yields a prenumbered bid card (26 CAR 400-201)
2. 2.Confirm you are an eligible bidder: the Commissioner of State Lands and employees, the county collector and deputies, an individual or entity whose home of record is outside the United States, and a former owner or interested party may not bid or purchase, and prior nonpayment may bar bidding (26 CAR 400-202(b))
3. 3.Bid at the tax-delinquent property auction, where bidders are physically assembled; parcels are offered in the order on the auction list and each sale is made to the highest bidder for not less than the minimum bid amount (26 CAR 400-103(22), 400-202(a), (c))
4. 4.If a parcel does not sell at the in-person auction, the State may later offer it online through an unsold-property auction or a negotiated-price sale (26 CAR 400-103(24), (13))
5. 5.Tender the full purchase price at the time of the sale by personal check, business check, certified funds, or credit or debit card; cash is not accepted (26 CAR 400-202(d)(2)-(3))
6. 6.Receive a purchaser summary on payment; the limited warranty deed issues only on full payment, is recorded in the county, and is then forwarded to the purchaser (26 CAR 400-202(d)(6), 400-203)

Registration

Required: YesIn person

prior to the time of sale as specified in the notice (26 CAR 400-201(a))

Deposit

Required: UnknownUnknown

Not verified from a source yet.

Forms

Bidder ID card: YesW-9: Unknown

Registration requires a valid driver's license number, expiration date, and issuing state, and bidders must show photo identification (26 CAR 400-201(c)-(d))

Registration issues a prenumbered bid card; no bids are accepted without it (26 CAR 400-201(b))

Earnest money is the first one-hundred-dollar payment tendered as part of an online auction sale (26 CAR 400-103(7))

Eligibility

Residency required: UnknownNo delinquent taxes: Unknown

An individual or entity whose home of record is outside the United States may not bid or purchase parcels through a tax auction, directly or indirectly (26 CAR 400-202(b)(1)(C))

The Commissioner of State Lands and his or her employees, and the county collector or the collector's deputy, may not bid or purchase (26 CAR 400-202(b)(1)(A)-(B))

A former owner or interested party may not bid or purchase (26 CAR 400-202(b)(1)(D))

Persons or entities that won previous auctions and did not pay, or paid with a dishonored instrument, may be prohibited from bidding (26 CAR 400-202(b)(2))

Payment

CheckCertified fundsCredit card

the full purchase price must be tendered at the time of the sale; issuance of the limited warranty deed is contingent upon full payment (26 CAR 400-202(d)(2)(A), 400-203(a))

Sources

• 26 CAR 400-201
• 26 CAR 400-202(b)(1)
• 26 CAR 400-202(c)-(d)
• 26 CAR 400-103(22), (24)
• 26 CAR 400-103(7)
• 26 CAR 400-203(a)

Arkansas sells tax-delinquent land at the state level: counties certify parcels to the Commissioner of State Lands, who conducts an in-person tax-delinquent property auction and, for parcels that do not sell, online unsold-property and negotiated-price auctions (26 CAR 400-103). The governing statute is Ark. Code Ann. § 26-37-202 (cited as authority for 26 CAR Part 400), and the operative bidder procedures are set out in the Commissioner of State Lands rules. Before the sale a bidder must register as specified in the notice, provide a driver's license number and photo identification, and receive a prenumbered bid card (26 CAR 400-201); ineligible bidders include the Commissioner and employees, the county collector and deputies, persons or entities whose home of record is outside the United States, and former owners or interested parties (26 CAR 400-202(b)). The successful bidder must tender the full purchase price at the sale by personal check, business check, certified funds, or credit/debit card — cash is not accepted — and the limited warranty deed issues only on full payment (26 CAR 400-202(d), 400-203). The rules define online earnest money as the first $100 payment but do not state a general required deposit, so deposit fields stay unknown; the statute/rules set no W-9 requirement and no state-residency requirement (only a United States home-of-record restriction).