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279.03 Interest on delinquent property taxes.

Subdivision 1. Rate. The rate of interest on delinquent property taxes levied in 1979 and prior years is fixed at six percent per year until January 1, 1983. Thereafter interest is payable at the rate determined pursuant to section 549.09. The rate of interest on delinquent property taxes levied in 1980 and subsequent years is the rate determined pursuant to section 549.09. All provisions of law except section 549.09 providing for the calculation of interest at any different rate on delinquent taxes in any notice or proceeding in connection with the payment, collection, sale, or assignment of delinquent taxes, or redemption from such sale or assignment are hereby amended to correspond herewith. Section 549.09 shall continue in force with respect to judgments arising out of petitions for review filed pursuant to chapter 278 irrespective of the levy year.

For property taxes levied in 1980 and prior years, interest is to be calculated at simple interest from the second Monday in May following the year in which the taxes become due until the time that the taxes and penalties are paid, computed on the amount of unpaid taxes, penalties and costs. For property taxes levied in 1981 and subsequent years, interest shall commence on the first day of January following the year in which the taxes become due, but the county treasurer need not calculate interest on unpaid taxes and penalties on the tax list returned to the county auditor pursuant to section 279.01.

If interest is payable for a portion of a year, the interest is calculated only for the months that the taxes or penalties remain unpaid, and for this purpose a portion of a month is deemed to be a whole month.

Subd. 1a. Rate after December 31, 1990. (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b), interest on delinquent property taxes, penalties, and costs unpaid on or after January 1, 1991, shall be payable at the per annum rate determined in section 270C.40, subdivision 5. If the rate so determined is less than ten percent, the rate of interest shall be ten percent. The maximum per annum rate shall be 14 percent if the rate specified under section 270C.40, subdivision 5, exceeds 14 percent. The rate shall be subject to change on January 1 of each year.

(b) If a person is the owner of one or more parcels of property on which taxes are delinquent, and the delinquent taxes are more than 25 percent of the prior year's school district levy, interest on the delinquent property taxes, penalties, and costs unpaid after January 1, 1992, shall be payable at twice the rate determined under paragraph (a) for the year.

Subd. 2. Composite judgment. Amounts included in composite judgments authorized by section 279.37, subdivision 1, and confessed on or after July 1, 1982, are subject to interest at the rate determined pursuant to section 549.09. Amounts confessed under this authority after December 31, 1990, are subject to interest at the rate calculated under subdivision 1a. During each calendar year, interest shall accrue on the unpaid balance of the composite judgment from the time it is confessed until it is paid. The rate of interest is subject to change each year in the same manner that section 549.09 or subdivision 1a, whichever is applicable, for rate changes. Interest on the unpaid contract balance on judgments confessed before July 1, 1982, is payable at the rate applicable to the judgment at the time that it was confessed.

HIST: (2105-1) 1931 c 315; 1933 c 121 s 3; 1943 c 281 s 2,3; 1979 c 50 s 34; 1980 c 437 s 11; 1Sp1981 c 1 art 8 s 14; 1982 c 523 art 39 s 2; 1990 c 480 art 8 s 11,12; 1991 c 265 art 9 s 67; 1991 c 291 art 1 s 32; 1992 c 511 art 4 s 16; 2005 c 151 art 2 s 17

Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes