By Saurabh Garg, founder·8 min read·Published 2026-08-25

Short answer: Boston is the newest Indian mission in the United States, with jurisdiction over Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. While its office is being stood up, Consulate General of India New York has been handling passport, visa and OCI work for those five states through VFS in Boston. Check the mission advisory the week you file. Then build the three rails: an NRO account, a narrow power of attorney, and a paper trail that satisfies India and the IRS.

Managing Your India Property From Boston

Boston is the newest Indian mission in the United States, and that one fact changes how you plan every piece of property paperwork you send home this year. The Consulate General of India, Boston holds jurisdiction over Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. While its office is being stood up, Consulate General of India New York has been handling passport, visa and OCI work for those five states, with applications lodged through VFS at 90 Canal Street in Boston.

If you own a flat in India and you live in New England, this is the page for you. It covers the mission question first, because getting it wrong costs you a courier cycle, then the money rails, then the Massachusetts problem that nobody warns you about.

The mission that covers you is still settling

A consulate that opens does not switch on at once. Jurisdiction transfers on paper before every counter is running, and during that gap the older mission carries the load. That is where Boston sits.

What this means in practice is short. Before you send anything, open the Boston mission's own advisory page and the New York consulate's advisory page in the same sitting, and see which one is naming your service that week. Do not work from a forum post, and do not work from what a cousin did last spring. Attestation and power of attorney work is handled through VFS Global for Indian missions in the US, which adds a booking step and a courier leg on top of whichever mission is answering.

Plan on the paperwork taking longer than a US-domestic equivalent, and start it before you need it rather than the week a tenancy is due to be signed.

Five states, two tax worlds

The five states in the Boston jurisdiction do not tax you the same way, and the difference matters more to an India property owner than to almost anyone else.

Massachusetts taxes its residents on income from all sources, your India rent included. It does give a credit for income tax due to another jurisdiction. Read the definition of jurisdiction with care: it means another US state, a US territory or possession, or Canada and its provinces. Tax paid to a foreign country other than Canada does not qualify. So the Indian tax on your Bangalore rent comes back to you through the federal foreign tax credit on Form 1116 and does not come back through your Massachusetts return.

New Hampshire is the opposite case inside the same consular jurisdiction. New Hampshire has never taxed wage income, and its Interest and Dividends Tax was repealed for tax periods beginning on or after 1 January 2025. An owner in Nashua and an owner in Lowell send their power of attorney to the same mission and file different state returns on the same India rent.

Maine, Rhode Island and Vermont each run their own income tax. Ask your preparer one question and write the answer down: does my state give any credit for the tax India already took. For Massachusetts the answer is no. Do not assume the same answer for the others without checking.

The clock you are working against

Boston runs on Eastern Time. India Standard Time sits 9.5 hours ahead in the US summer and 10.5 hours ahead in the US winter, because the US moves its clocks and India does not. India has no daylight saving, so the gap changes twice a year without anything on your side changing.

Walk it through. A bank in Bangalore opens at 10 in the morning and it is half past midnight on Beacon Street. That bank closes at 5 in the evening and you are asleep at half past seven. You reach your desk at nine and the Indian working day ended two and a half hours ago. The workable overlap between a Boston morning and an Indian business day is close to nothing.

This is the reason remote self-management breaks down, and it has nothing to do with effort. A geyser fails on a Tuesday. The plumber wants a decision and cash. The society wants a signature on a notice by Friday. None of that waits for your evening. What you need is a person inside the Indian working day who is allowed to act.

What you build once, and never again

An NRO account for the money. Rent from an Indian property has to land in a Non-Resident Ordinary account in your name. Open it before a tenant pays anything, because retrofitting the account after rent has moved through the wrong place creates a paper problem you will be explaining for years. See NRO accounts and rent taxation.

A narrow power of attorney for the signatures. One named person, one named property, a listed set of acts, and nothing beyond it. From New England the route is notarisation with two independent witnesses, an apostille from your state's Secretary of State, a courier to India, and stamp-duty adjudication within three months of the document arriving there. Holders of an Indian passport or an OCI card can use mission attestation in place of the apostille. Full walkthrough in granting a power of attorney from the USA to India.

A paper trail for two tax authorities. India withholds 31.2% of your rent at source from the first rupee under the non-resident rule, now carried in Section 393(2) of the Income-tax Act 2025 after moving from Section 195. You file in India to reconcile that against what you owe. Then the same rent goes on Schedule E of your US return in dollars, depreciated over 30 years rather than 27.5 because the building sits abroad, with the Indian tax claimed back on Form 1116. See rent TDS for NRI landlords and US tax on rental income from India.

What we run from India

We have no office in Boston and no office anywhere in the United States. Our people are in India: teams on the ground in Bangalore and Hyderabad, and vetted broker partners in Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and Gurgaon. We say that out loud because the alternative is implying a national payroll we do not have.

For your flat that means one named manager rather than a call queue, itemized billing to the rupee, dated photographs when work is done, and rent landing in your NRO account with the withholding paperwork tracked so the Indian return and the US return agree with each other. The operating discipline is set out in managing tenants from abroad.

If nobody you know has stood in front of the property this year, start with a Property Health Check before you hand anyone keys or a power of attorney. Site visit, boundary and encroachment survey, encumbrance certificate, khata and mutation status, tax dues, occupancy, written up as a risk report.

What it costs

Property Health Check at 20,000 rupees, one time, no keys and no power of attorney needed. Quarterly photo proof on a vacant property, priced per property on the same page. Full management from 5% of monthly rent, minimum 2,500 rupees a month. Tenancy placement from one month's rent. The full table is on pricing, the scope on services, and the free calculators on tools. For numbers against your own flat, ask for a proposal.

Start at the US owner's hub if you want the full mission map and the tax picture in one place.

FAQ

Which Indian mission covers Massachusetts? The Consulate General of India, Boston holds jurisdiction over Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. While the Boston office is being stood up, Consulate General of India New York has been handling passport, visa and OCI services for those states, with applications lodged through VFS in Boston. Check both missions' advisories before you file.

Does Massachusetts give me credit for the tax India took on my rent? No. The Massachusetts credit for tax due to another jurisdiction covers other US states, US territories and possessions, and Canada and its provinces. Tax paid to a foreign country other than Canada is not eligible. Your relief for Indian tax is federal, claimed on Form 1116.

I live in New Hampshire. Do I have a state filing on my India rent? New Hampshire does not tax wage income, and its Interest and Dividends Tax was repealed for tax periods beginning on or after 1 January 2025. Your federal return still reports the India rent, and your Indian return still applies. Confirm your own position with a preparer.

How long does a power of attorney take from Boston to India? Budget weeks rather than days. Notarisation is quick. The state apostille and the mission or VFS step each add a booking and a courier leg, and the original has to reach India and be adjudicated for stamp duty within three months of arrival. Start it before a tenancy or a sale is scheduled.

Do you have an office in Boston? No. Our people are in India. The gap you cannot cover from New England is the Indian working day, and that is what we cover.

Can you collect my rent if my bank account is in the US? Rent has to land in an NRO account in your name in India, and we do not hold your money. Most banks let an NRI open an NRO account from abroad with attested documents. We get the account ready, direct the tenant's rent into it, and track the withholding paperwork behind it.

Saurabh Garg, founder, 66 MG Road

Sources

Information on this page is as on 2026-08-25. Rules, rates, deadlines and government portals change without notice, so verify against the official source before you act. This page is for information only. It is not tax or legal advice, and it is not a substitute for a qualified adviser who knows your position.