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

Short answer: Washington DC is served by the Embassy of India rather than by a consulate, and its consular jurisdiction covers the District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Bermuda, effective 15 July 2025. If you live in Maryland or Virginia your paperwork goes to the Embassy, not to New York. Then the flat runs on an NRO account, a narrow power of attorney, and two tax returns that have to agree with each other.

Managing Your India Property From Washington DC

Owners in the capital region are the one group in the United States whose property paperwork goes to an embassy rather than to a consulate, and the jurisdiction line runs through the middle of a commuter metro. The Embassy of India in Washington DC covers the District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Bermuda, under the map that took effect on 15 July 2025.

That boundary catches people. A family in Bethesda and a family in Arlington both file through the Embassy. A family that moved to Wilmington files through New York, because Delaware sits in the New York jurisdiction. Same corridor, different mission.

Your mission is an embassy

The Embassy has a chancery at 2107 Massachusetts Avenue NW and a separate consular wing at 2536 Massachusetts Avenue NW. For a property owner that distinction is administrative, and the one thing to hold on to is that consular work has its own address and its own queue.

Since August 2025, miscellaneous consular services for Indian missions in the US, attestation of powers of attorney and property affidavits among them, are processed through VFS Global rather than at the mission counter. That adds an appointment and a courier leg to every attestation. Build it into your timeline instead of discovering it the week a tenancy agreement is due.

There is one line in the Embassy's jurisdiction most owners skip past: Bermuda. If you have moved to Hamilton for work and kept the flat in Chennai, your mission is Washington DC.

Seven jurisdictions, one counter

The Embassy's territory holds seven tax jurisdictions with almost nothing in common. The District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia each tax residents on income from all sources, and the three of them meet inside a single metro area where people cross a state line to buy groceries. Kentucky, North Carolina and West Virginia each run their own income tax. Bermuda has no personal income tax at all.

The question to put to your preparer is narrow, and it is the same one in every state: does my state give any credit for the income tax India already took on this rent. Several states answer no in their own instructions, because the credit they offer is defined to cover other US states, US territories and Canada, and does not reach a foreign country. Where the answer is no, the Indian tax comes back to you through the federal foreign tax credit on Form 1116 and does not come back through the state return. Get that answer in writing before you file, and get it for your own state rather than for the state next door.

Where the day goes

The capital runs on Eastern Time. India Standard Time is 9.5 hours ahead in US summer and 10.5 hours ahead in US winter. India has no daylight saving, so the gap moves twice a year without you touching anything.

Set it against a working week. A sub-registrar's office in Hyderabad opens while you are asleep and shuts before your first meeting. A bank branch in Pune closes at 5 in the evening, which is half past seven in the morning on your side. When you get to your desk, the Indian day is over. What is left is a sliver at the front of your morning that lands at the tail of theirs, and it is not a window you can run a tenancy through.

The failure this produces is predictable. A tenant reports a leak on Tuesday. The society wants a signed consent by Friday. A contractor wants a decision and half the money up front. Each of those needs somebody standing there inside Indian business hours with the authority to act.

What has to exist before a tenant does

An NRO account for the money. Rent from an Indian property has to land in a Non-Resident Ordinary account in your name. It is also the account your repatriation runs out of later, so open it before a tenant pays a rupee. See NRO accounts and rent taxation.

A narrow power of attorney for the signatures. One person, one property, a listed set of acts. From the US the sequence is a notary 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 arrival under Section 18 of the Indian Stamp Act. Indian passport and OCI holders can use mission attestation in place of the apostille. Full detail in granting a power of attorney from the USA to India.

Two returns that have to agree. India withholds 31.2% of your rent from the first rupee under the non-resident rule, carried in Section 393(2) of the Income-tax Act 2025 after moving from Section 195. You file in India to reconcile. The same rent then goes on Schedule E of your US return in dollars, with the building depreciated over 30 years rather than 27.5 because it sits abroad, and the Indian tax claimed on Form 1116. Article 6 of the India-US treaty gives India the first right to tax that rent, so the treaty is a credit and not a discount. See the India-USA treaty for property owners.

When you want the money in a US account, the route is the Reserve Bank's USD 1 million per financial year scheme out of NRO balances, with Form 15CA from you and Form 15CB from a chartered accountant. The limit resets on 1 April and unused headroom lapses on 31 March. See repatriating sale proceeds from an NRO account.

What we run from India

We have no office in Washington and none 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. Saying it out loud is cheaper than being found out later.

For your flat: one named manager rather than a queue, itemized billing to the rupee, dated photographs when work is done, and rent into your NRO account with the withholding paperwork tracked so the two returns line up.

Start with a Property Health Check if nobody you trust has seen the property in person this year. Site visit, boundary and encroachment survey, encumbrance certificate, khata and mutation status, tax dues and occupancy, written up as a risk report. No keys, no power of attorney, no money custody.

What it costs

Property Health Check at 20,000 rupees, one time. 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. Full table on pricing, scope on services, calculators on tools, and numbers against your own flat through a proposal. The whole mission map sits on the US owner's hub.

FAQ

Which Indian mission covers Maryland and Virginia? The Embassy of India in Washington DC. Its consular jurisdiction covers the District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Bermuda, under the map effective 15 July 2025. Delaware and Pennsylvania sit with New York instead, which surprises owners who assume the nearest city wins.

Where do I send a power of attorney from the DC area? To the Embassy's consular wing, through VFS Global, which has processed miscellaneous consular services for Indian missions in the US since August 2025. If you hold a US passport the route is a notary and a state apostille instead. Either way the original has to reach India and be adjudicated for stamp duty within three months of arrival.

Does my state give me credit for the tax India took? Ask your preparer for your own state, and get the answer in writing. Several states define the credit to cover other US states, US territories and Canada, which leaves Indian tax out. Where that is the case, your relief is federal, on Form 1116.

I live in Bermuda. Which mission is mine? Washington DC. Bermuda sits in the Embassy's consular jurisdiction alongside the six US states it covers.

Do you have an office in Washington DC? No. Our people are in India, inside the working hours you cannot reach from Eastern Time. That is the whole service.

Can I sell my India flat without travelling there? Yes, with a registered property-specific power of attorney and a lower-deduction certificate filed before the sale closes. Without the certificate the buyer withholds up to 14.95% of the full sale price rather than of your gain, and that cash sits with the Indian tax department until your return is processed.

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.