A tax foreclosure is the foreclosure of a home or commercial property for unpaid taxes. It often begins with a tax lien being levied from the local municipality against a homeowner. The lien is then sold at auction if left unpaid. At some point after the successful bidder buys the unpaid taxes at a tax sale auction, that investor tries to collect the unpaid taxes directly from the homeowner, plus interest. If the taxes go unpaid for a certain amount of time (and that timeframe is different in each state) the investor can move to foreclose on the property.