What is a tax lien on a property? A claim against property for unpaid tax. The property tax kind attaches automatically and outranks a first mortgage; the kind recorded against a person ranks by its date like any other lien.
A tax lien is a claim against property for unpaid tax, and two very different things go by the name. A property tax lien attaches to a specific parcel by operation of law when the tax is levied. Nobody records it and nobody has to: it sits on the land, it follows the land through a sale, and it outranks almost every other claim, including a first mortgage recorded years earlier. NRS 116.3116 says as much in passing when it lists real estate and governmental liens among the few things an association's lien does not beat. A federal or state tax lien is different in every respect. It runs against a person, for income or business taxes, it reaches whatever that person owns, it has to be recorded to bind third parties, and it takes its priority from the recording date like any ordinary lien.
Nevada's route for delinquent property tax runs through the county treasurer. The county mails a notice of delinquent taxes under NRS 361.5648. If the tax stays unpaid, the tax receiver issues a trustee's certificate under NRS 361.570 authorizing the county treasurer, as trustee for the State and the county, to hold the property for 2 years after the first Monday in June of the year the certificate is dated, or 1 year where the property has been determined abandoned under NRS 361.567, unless it is sooner redeemed. Interest accrues at 10 percent per annum, assessed monthly from the date the tax was due. If nobody redeems within that period, title to the property vests in the county. The lien itself can be assigned rather than held, under NRS 361.7303 to 361.733.
That last part is why most national writing about tax liens does not describe Nevada. In a tax lien state an investor buys a certificate at auction, collects interest while the owner redeems, and forecloses only if the redemption never comes. Nevada holds the property in trust and, once the redemption period runs out, sells the property itself. What is on offer at a Clark County sale is a parcel, not a certificate, and the redemption window closed before the auction rather than after it. Nothing about the sale cleans up the title on its own, either: recorded easements survive it, and a federal tax lien recorded against the former owner follows its own rules. Anyone bidding should have read the title work first, and should treat the minimum bid as a tax figure rather than a valuation.
A worked example
A parcel carries a $4,200 annual tax bill and the owner stops paying. The county mails the delinquency notice, and with the tax still unpaid the receiver issues the trustee's certificate. Interest runs at 10 percent per annum assessed monthly, so about $35 in the first month on that $4,200 and more as further years pile on. Two years after the first Monday in June of the certificate year, roughly $8,400 of tax plus interest and costs stands between the owner and a parcel worth $250,000. Redeeming costs under $10,000. Not redeeming vests title in the county, which sells the property, and a quarter-million-dollar asset goes for a bill that was about 3 percent of it.
Buying at a Clark County tax sale
Questions people ask
Does a tax lien survive a foreclosure?
A property tax lien generally does, because it sits on the parcel rather than on the borrower and it outranks the deed of trust. A buyer at a trustee's sale takes the property with unpaid taxes still owing on it, which is one reason auction bidders order title work first.
Can you buy tax liens in Nevada?
Not the way the phrase is used in tax lien states. Nevada counties hold delinquent property in trust and sell the property once the redemption period ends, so what is auctioned is a parcel. NRS 361.7303 to 361.733 do allow a tax lien to be assigned, which is a separate and much narrower thing.