EZ Certification of Individual's Landholdings

FORM 7-2180EZ
2008 Instructions

INSTRUCTIONS FOR “EZ” CERTIFICATION OF
INDIVIDUAL’S LANDHOLDINGS
(Discretionary Provisions)

(7-07)

Bureau of Reclamation
Do not use this form after December 31, 2008

OMB Control No.: 1006-0005

Paperwork Reduction Act
This information is being collected to establish landholder compliance with Federal reclamation law. Response to this request is mandatory in
accordance with Public Law 97-293 and 43 CFR 426.18. Public reporting burden for this form is estimated to average 45 minutes per response,
including time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the form. An agency may not conduct
or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) control number. Direct comments regarding the burden estimated or any other aspect of these forms to Manager, Land
Resources Office, Code 84-53000, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, PO Box 25007, Denver CO 80225.

contact the district in which you hold land to
determine the forms submittal category since a
district’s RRA forms submittal category is subject
to change annually.

GENERAL INFORMATION
“General Information About RRA Forms”
(Form 7-21INFO) provides basic instructions on using
Reclamation Reform Act of 1982 (RRA) forms. Ask your
district office for this form each year to keep current. Refer
to the definitions at the end of Form 7-21INFO whenever the
meaning of a term is not clear to you. Please note, some
terms such as “irrigable land,” “irrigation land,” and
“irrigation water” have special definitions when used in
these forms which differ from their common meaning. Other
terms and corresponding definitions that are specific to the
RRA forms are:

(2)

All of your landholdings are subject to acreage
limitation provisions and are located in the same
district.

(3)

You do not hold more than 960 acres of irrigable
and/or irrigation land.

(4)

You hold all your land directly and in your own
name (that is, the land is not owned or leased
through any type of legal entity, such as a
corporation, trust, estate, or partnership; or in the
names of your children or other dependents).

• “We,” “us,” “our,” or “Reclamation” means the Bureau
of Reclamation

(5)

You are not claimed as a dependent within the
meaning of the Internal Revenue Code.

Visit www.usbr.gov/rra for more information.

(6)

Either you or your spouse, if married, is a
U.S. citizen or a resident alien.

• “Land” or “acres” means irrigable and/or irrigation land.
• “You” or “your” means the landholder.

WHO MAY SUBMIT THIS FORM

If you do not meet all of these conditions you must submit a
“Certification of Individual’s Landholdings” (Form 7-2180).
Fact Sheets 1, 2, and 5 are available at your district office if
you are unsure whether Form 7-2180EZ is the appropriate
form for you to submit.

You may submit an “EZ Certification of Individual’s
Landholdings” (Form 7-2180EZ) if you meet all of the
following conditions:
(1)

You are an individual, an individual with dependent
children, a married couple, or a married couple with
dependent children, and you are a qualified
recipient whose total landholdings are more than
the RRA forms submittal threshold of your district.
A category 1 district’s form submittal threshold is
240 acres and a category 2 district’s threshold is
80 acres for qualified recipients. You should

You are completing the wrong form if you and your spouse,
if married, are both nonresident aliens. Please contact your
district office or the appropriate Reclamation office to obtain
the proper form.

WHERE TO SUBMIT FORMS
Submit this form to the district in which the land is located.

1

WHAT LAND TO INCLUDE
You must certify all of your land held in this district that is
subject to the acreage limitation provisions. You must
provide an accurate legal description or an assessor’s parcel
number for each land parcel. Be sure to break down land
parcels as far as necessary to ensure accurate identification.

5.

(b)

Enter your mailing address if it is different from
your residential address.

(a)

Enter the telephone number where questions can
be directed.

(b)

Enter the name of a contact person at that
telephone number, if you are not the person to
whom we should direct our questions.

IF LANDHOLDINGS CHANGE
You must notify the district in which you hold land within
30 calendar days if your landholdings change during the
water year, and you must submit new certification forms
within 60 calendar days of the change. These 30- and
60-day grace periods do not apply to a new landholder.
A new landholder must submit certification forms prior to
receiving Reclamation irrigation water.

6.

For more information on landholding changes, see
Fact Sheet 11 which is available at your district office.

Check the box(es) to indicate if you and your spouse,
if married, are U.S. citizens, resident aliens, or
nonresident aliens. Please indicate your country of
citizenship if you check “nonresident alien.” You are
completing the wrong form if you and your spouse, if
married, are both nonresident aliens. Please contact
your district office for guidance.

Land You Own
It is the responsibility of landowners, sellers of land, and
districts to notify lessees, buyers of land, and new
landholders, respectively, of the RRA forms submittal
requirements associated with the land in question.

ANNUAL CERTIFICATION
You must submit Form 7-2180EZ or Form 7-2180 each and
every year prior to the delivery of Reclamation irrigation
water to your land if your landholdings exceed the applicable
RRA forms submittal threshold. However, you may submit
a “Verification of Landholdings” (Form 7-21VERIFY)
instead if your landholdings have not changed since the last
standard certification form you submitted.

7.

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS
Type or print in ink all answers. You must initial and date
any crossouts and corrections. You may attach continuation
sheets to list information. Preprinted continuation sheets are
available for this purpose, or you may make your own.
Please contact your district office or the appropriate
Reclamation office if you have any questions.

This section requests information regarding land
that you directly own. Include land leased from a
public entity here instead of including it as leased
land in item 10 because it counts against the
lessee's ownership entitlement (pursuant to
Public Law 91-310). In that situation, write the
land is leased from a public entity and include the
name of that public entity after the legal
description of the land parcel. Enter the following
for each land parcel:
(a)

Provide an accurate legal description of the land
parcel or an assessor’s parcel number. For each
lessee, sublessee, or operator entered in item
7(c) [or for yourself if you check “self” in item
7(b)], there is space to list four land parcels (one
parcel per line) if all parcels are operated by the
same natural person or entity in the same
district. You may list more than one parcel per
line if all parcels have the same lease
information.

(b)

Who primarily operates the land parcel: you
(self); a lessee or sublessee under a lease
(lessee/sublessee); or an operator under any
other type of farm operating arrangement
(other).

ITEM BY ITEM INSTRUCTIONS
Landholder Information
1.

Enter your name.

2.

Enter your marital status (single, married, divorced, or
widowed).

3.

Enter your spouse's name, if married.

4.

(a)

Enter your residential address. You must use
the street address or rural route number, city,
state, and ZIP code. Your attorney's address,
relative's address, “c/o” address, etc., is not
acceptable in place of a residential address.
Post office box numbers may be used only if no
other address exists.

(c)

2

Name, address, and telephone number of each
lessee, sublessee, or other type of operator.
Skip this column and go to item 7(f) if you are
the primary operator of the land parcel.

FORM 7-2180EZ (2008)

(d)

(e)

(f)

8.

Starting date of the lease. This is the date the
lease first became effective. Enter the date the
lease was signed if no effective date was
specified in the lease. Remember, leases cannot
exceed 10 years except with our approval for
perennial crops, which are determined on a
crop-by-crop basis but cannot exceed 25 years.

lease was signed if no effective date was
specified in the lease. Remember, leases cannot
exceed 10 years except with our approval for
perennial crops, which are determined on a
crop-by-crop basis but cannot exceed 25 years.
(e)

Ending date of the lease. This is the date on
which the current lease will terminate, including
all exercisable options.

(f)

Number of acres in the land parcel. If you lease
land from a public entity and then sublease it to
another landholder, do not list those acres in this
column because they are attributed to the
sublessee.

Total column 7(f). This is the number of acres that
you directly own. Include in this total any directly
owned acres listed on continuation sheets or
attachments.

Ending date of the lease. This is the date on
which the current lease will terminate, including
all exercisable options.
Number of acres in the land parcel. Do not list
acres that you sublease to others in this column
because they are attributed to the sublessee.

11.

Total column 10(f). This is the total number of acres
you directly lease (and sublease). Include in this total
any directly leased (and subleased) acres listed on
continuation sheets or attachments.

12.

Total item 8 and item 11. This is the total number of
acres you own and lease.

Basis for Eligibility for Discretionary Provision
Entitlements

Land You Lease From Another Party
Landholders that lease land to or from other landholders
should inform the lessees and lessors of their obligation to
also submit RRA forms. If either the lessee or lessor fails to
submit RRA forms, the eligibility of the land to receive
Reclamation irrigation water will be jeopardized.

13.

9.

Signatures

10.

Enter your name again. (These forms are often
photocopied, so it is necessary to have the landholder
identified on each page.)

14.

This section requests information regarding land that
you directly lease from another party. Do not include
land leased from a public entity here; instead, include
it in item 7. Include information regarding any land
that you sublease to others here. Enter the following
for each land parcel:
(a)

Provide an accurate legal description of the land
parcel or an assessor’s parcel number.

(b)

Who primarily operates the land: you (self) or
another party (other).

(c)

Natural person or entity that directly owns the
land that you lease. Enter the sublessee’s name
as well as the landowner’s name if you sublease
the land to another landholder. If you sublease
the land from another landholder, enter the
sublessor’s name and the landowner’s name.
Include the farm operator’s name if the land is
operated by a farm operator.

(d)

Starting date of the lease. This is the date the
lease first became effective. Enter the date the
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Check the box next to the one statement that best
describes how you became subject to the discretionary
provisions. Provide the requested information for that
statement. Please contact your district office if you do
not know which statement applies to you.

Read the attestation statements carefully and sign and
date the form in ink. The statements concerning the
reporting of changes in information, the rent paid on
irrigation land, written leases, the terms of such leases,
and holdings of your spouse, if married, are
requirements of Federal reclamation law. Both you
and your spouse, if married, must sign the form. This
requirement applies even if the land is not jointly held.
However, you may use a written signature
authorization to permit one spouse to sign for the
couple. The district office must keep any such spousal
signature authorizations on file.

FORM 7-2180EZ (2008)