EZ Certification of Individual's Landholdings

FORM 7-2180EZ
2016 Instructions

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

(7-15)

Bureau of Reclamation
Do not use this form after December 31, 2016

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, Reclamation
Law Administration Division, Code 84-55000, Bureau of Reclamation, PO Box 25007, Denver CO 80225.

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:

forms submittal category since a district’s RRA forms
submittal category is subject to change annually.
(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).

(5)

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

(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.
•

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

Visit www.usbr.gov/rra for more information.
WHO MAY SUBMIT THIS FORM
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 contact
the district in which you hold land to determine the

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 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.

WHAT LAND TO INCLUDE

residential address. Post office box numbers may be
used only if no other address exists.

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.

(b) Enter your mailing address if it is different from your
residential address.
5.

(a) Enter the telephone number where questions can be
directed.

IF LANDHOLDINGS CHANGE
(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.

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.

ANNUAL CERTIFICATION

Land You Own

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.

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.
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.

(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.

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

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:

(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).

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FORM 7-2180EZ (2016)

(c) 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.

(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 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.

(d) 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.

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

(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.
8.

(f) 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.

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.

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.

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.
9.

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

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

13. 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.

10. 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:

Signatures
14. 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.

(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).

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FORM 7-2180EZ (2016)