One inherited property, two different valuations

By Parish Rao · 26 August 2026 · 7 minute read

This is the most expensive misunderstanding we see in NRI work, and almost nobody explains it before it costs someone money. India and your country of residence do not measure the cost of inherited property the same way. Sometimes they are not even close.

What India does

India gives you no fresh start on inheritance. You inherit the previous owner's cost along with the property. Nothing resets on the day they died.

If the family acquired the property before April 2001, you can use its market value on 1 April 2001 instead of the original price. On an old family house that substitution usually cuts the taxable gain enormously, which is why it matters so much. Our post on proving cost without a purchase deed covers how that value is built.

What the United States does

The opposite. American tax law gives a step up in basis on inherited assets, including foreign real estate. Your US cost basis becomes the fair market value on the date the previous owner died.

So for the same house, on the same sale, your two tax returns start from two completely different numbers, established on two different dates.

Why this costs people money

Two ways, and both are avoidable.

They get one valuation and use it for both. A date of death value filed on an Indian return is simply wrong, because India does not recognise that date. A 1 April 2001 value filed in the US throws away the step up, which usually means paying American tax on decades of growth that the law did not intend to tax.

They get the second one years later. By then the records are harder to reconstruct, the professional who knew the family has moved on, and the filing has already gone in. Fixing a return afterwards is possible and unpleasant.

It is not only America

• Germany taxes worldwide inheritance and gifts where either the person who died or the person receiving is German tax resident. That normally needs a value at the date of death too.
• The United Kingdom frequently needs a date of death value for estate work.
• Canada asks for a cost amount on its foreign property form, which for inherited property has to be established rather than read off a receipt.

The India side stays the same in every one of these cases. It is the other country that changes.

The good news

Both are past date valuations, and past date work is ordinary for us. We reconstruct from the official rate position of the relevant year and registered transactions from that period, and the report states plainly how it was done.

More usefully, one inspection produces both certificates. Our engineer visits the property once, measures it once, photographs it once. The research behind each date is separate, but the visit is not. Ordering them together costs a fraction of discovering the second requirement a year later and starting again.

What to do

1. Tell us where you fileThe country you are tax resident in decides whether a second date is needed at all.
2. Tell us when the person diedAnd roughly when the property came into the family.
3. Ask your adviser abroad one questionWhether they need a date of death value for your filing. Most will say yes immediately.
4. Get both certificates from one visitBefore anyone sells anything.

We are valuers, not tax advisers, and that line matters. Your CA in India and your accountant abroad decide what applies to you. What we make sure of is that the property numbers underneath both decisions can be defended.

Read about inherited property valuation, or see the country pages for the USA, Germany, Canada and the UK.