Certification of Individual's Landholdings

FORM 7-2180
2021 Instructions

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

Bureau of Reclamation
Do not use this form after December 31, 2021

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 1 hour 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:
•

“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

Fact Sheets 1, 2, and 5 and the instructions to Form 7-2180EZ
are available at your district office if you are unsure whether
Form 7-2180 is the appropriate form for you to submit.
WHERE TO SUBMIT FORMS
You must submit a certification form to each district in which
you hold (directly or indirectly own or lease) land. You must
submit the original form to one district office and may submit
copies to the others if you hold land in more than one district.
WHAT LAND TO INCLUDE
You must certify all of your land held westwide that is subject
to the acreage limitation provisions. Please see
Form 7-21INFO if you have excess land or full-cost land to
identify. 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.

Visit www.usbr.gov/rra for more information.
IF LANDHOLDINGS CHANGE
WHO MUST SUBMIT THIS FORM
You must certify your landholding on a “Certification of
Individual’s Landholdings” (Form 7-2180) if 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 westwide landholdings are
more than the RRA forms submittal threshold of your
district(s). A category 1 district's form submittal threshold is
240 acres and a category 2 district's threshold is 80 acres for
qualified recipients. Please contact each district in which you
hold land to find out each district's forms submittal category
since a district's RRA forms submittal category is subject to
change annually.
You may be eligible to submit an “EZ Certification of
Individual’s Landholdings” (Form 7-2180EZ) instead of
Form 7-2180 if you meet certain conditions. See the
instructions to Form 7-2180EZ for a list of those conditions.

You must notify all districts in which you hold land within
30 calendar days if your westwide 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.
For more information on landholding changes see
Fact Sheet 11, which is available at your district office.
ANNUAL CERTIFICATION
You must submit a standard certification form each and every
year prior to the delivery of Reclamation irrigation water to
your land if your westwide landholdings exceed the applicable
RRA forms submittal threshold, with the following exceptions:

(1)

You may submit a “Verification of Landholdings”
(Form 7-21VERIFY) instead of Form 7-2180 if your
westwide landholdings have not changed since the last
standard certification form you submitted;

2.

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

3.

Enter your spouse's name, if married.

(2)

You may submit a Form 7-21VERIFY together with a
new “Selection of Full-Cost Land” (Form 7-21FC) if
your westwide landholdings have not changed since
the last standard certification form you submitted, and
you want to reselect your full-cost land; or

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.

(3)

You do not need to submit any RRA forms if you only
hold land indirectly through entities, trusts, or estates
and neither the acres attributed to you nor the
percentage of the entity, trust, or estate attributed to
you has changed since you previously submitted a
Form 7-2180, and all other information on your
previously submitted Form 7-2180 has not changed.

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

(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.

IRREVOCABLE ELECTION
Please be aware, by submitting this form, a prior law recipient
that only holds land indirectly in a district that has conformed
to the discretionary provisions will be making an irrevocable
election to conform to the discretionary provisions. That
action will be binding in that and all other districts in which
the landholder holds land subject to the acreage limitation
provisions.

6.

Such actions do not apply if you and your spouse, if married,
are nonresident aliens. See Form 7-21INFO for more
information on how an irrevocable election impacts your
westwide acreage limitation status and what actions need to be
taken by nonresident aliens in order to conform to the
discretionary provisions.

If you, your spouse if you are married, or your dependents
hold land in the name of an entity that is entirely owned
by you, your spouse, and/or your dependents, enter that
name. Note: Nondependent minor children who hold land
that exceeds the forms submittal threshold must submit
their own RRA form(s). An entity that is subject to the
discretionary provisions, excluding a trust or estate, that is
wholly owned by an individual (which by definition
includes a married couple under the discretionary
provisions) must not submit its own RRA form. Do not
list trusts and estates of which you are a beneficiary.
Instead, list such trusts and estates in item 15.
Enter the following information if you own 100-percent
interest in an entity that directly owns or leases land:

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

(a) Entity’s name.

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.
District name abbreviation(s) used on this form must be
spelled out on the form where the abbreviation is used for the
first time, or on a separate sheet attached to this form. Please
contact your district office or the appropriate Reclamation
office if you have any questions.

(b) Entity’s Employer Identification Number (EIN). Do
not list a social security number in this blank (please
see item 15(c) for more information on EIN’s).
(c) State or country where the entity is established.
(d) The legal description(s) or an assessor’s parcel
number(s) for land that is directly owned or leased by
the entity.

ITEM BY ITEM INSTRUCTIONS

(e) Number of acres if held by a 100-percent owned
entity.

Landholder Information
1.

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

Enter your name.
(f) Entity’s acreage limitation status: subject to prior law
or subject to discretionary provisions.
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FORM 7-2180 (2021)

For purposes of determining total landholdings, if you
hold 100-percent interest in an entity that directly
owns or leases land, all land listed here must be listed
again in items 10 and 11 for the entity's directly
owned land, or items 13 and 14 for the entity's
directly leased land.

(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) Name of district in which the land parcel is located.
Group land parcels by district to make it easier to
complete items 20 through 26.

List any other name in which you or your spouse
directly hold land (such as a maiden name,
dependent’s name, etc.).

(b) Provide an accurate legal description of the land
parcel or an assessor’s parcel number. For each
lessee, sublessee, or operator entered in item 10(d)
[or for yourself if you check “self” in item 10(c)],
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.

Note: All trusts and estates must complete a
“Declaration of Trust’s or Estate’s Landholdings”
(Form 7-21TRUST).
7.

8.

Check the box(es) to indicate if you or your spouse, if
married, are U.S. citizens, resident aliens, or nonresident
aliens. Please indicate your country of citizenship if you
check “nonresident alien.” Nonresident aliens will be
required to submit proof of citizenship when they
irrevocably elect to conform to the discretionary
provisions. Please note, land held directly by nonresident
aliens who are qualified recipients is not eligible to
receive Reclamation irrigation water.

(c) 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).
(d) Name, address, and telephone number of each lessee,
sublessee, or other type of operator. Skip this column
and go to item 10(g) if you are the primary operator
of the land parcel.

Indicate your dependency status under the Internal
Revenue Code. If your answer is “yes,” STOP, do not
continue to complete this form. Your westwide
landholdings must be included on your parents' or legal
guardians’ Form 7-2180. Parents or legal guardians must
submit a Form 7-2180 and count the land held in the
name(s) of their dependent(s) against the parents’ or legal
guardians’ acreage limitation entitlements, even if they
hold no land in their own names.

(e) 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.

Land You Directly Own

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

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.
9.

(g) 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.

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

11. Total column 10(g). This is the number of acres you
directly own westwide. Include in this total any directly
owned acres listed on continuation sheets or attachments.

10. This section requests information regarding land
that you directly own westwide. Also include any
land owned by an entity in which you own 100-percent
interest. Include land leased from a public entity here
instead of including it as leased land in item 13 because
it counts against the lessee's ownership entitlement

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FORM 7-2180 (2021)

Land You Directly Lease From Another Party

14. Total column 13(g). This is the total number of acres you
directly lease (and sublease) westwide. Include in this
total any directly leased (and subleased) acres listed on
continuation sheets or attachments. Please contact your
district office for further instructions if all or part of your
directly leased land is also attributed to your indirectly
owned land.

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.

Land You Indirectly Own or Lease Through Other
Entities

12. Enter your name.
13. This section requests information regarding land that you
directly lease westwide from another party. Also include
any land directly leased by an entity in which you own
100-percent interest. Do not include land you lease from
a public entity here; instead, include it in item 10. Include
information regarding any land you sublease to others
here. Enter the following for each land parcel:

15. This section requests information regarding land that you
indirectly own or lease westwide through entities, trusts,
or estates. Do not include land directly held by any
entity in which you own 100-percent interest. Instead,
include that land in item 10 or item 13 as appropriate.
Include land indirectly held by any entity in which you
own 100-percent interest. Obtain a completed copy of
any entity’s “Certification of Entity’s Landholdings”
(Form 7-2181) or “Report of Entity’s Landholdings”
(Form 7-2191), or any trust’s or estate’s
Form 7-21TRUST that attributes land to you.
By referring to the information contained on the entity's,
trust's, or estate's form, you can help ensure the
information you certify on your form is accurate. For the
land held by a dependent, include the name of the
dependent after the name of the entity. Enter the
following for each land parcel in each district in which the
entity, trust, or estate holds land attributed to you:

(a) Name of district in which the land parcel is located.
Group land parcels by district to make it easier to
complete items 20 through 26.
(b) Provide an accurate legal description of the land
parcel or an assessor’s parcel number.
(c) Who primarily operates the land: you (self) or
another party (other).
(d) 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.

(a) Name of district in which the land parcel is located.
Group land parcels by district to make it easier to
complete items 20 through 26.
(b) Name of the entity, trust, or estate that holds land in
which you own an interest or are a beneficiary.

(e) 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.

(c) The entity's, trust's, or estate's EIN. Leave this blank
if the entity, trust, or estate does not have an EIN, and
is not required by the Internal Revenue Service to
have an EIN. Do not list a social security number in
this blank.
(d) Percentage of interest you own in each entity or the
percentage of land held in a trust or estate attributed
to you.

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

(e) Total number of acres owned (directly and indirectly)
by the entity, trust, or estate.

(g) 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.

(f) Multiply item 15(d) (in decimal form) by item 15(e).
This is the number of acres that you indirectly own
through the entity, trust, or estate.

4

FORM 7-2180 (2021)

(g) Total number of acres leased (directly and indirectly)
by the entity, trust, or estate.

21. For each district, enter the total number of acres you
indirectly own in the district. Obtain this information
from item 15(f). Add the number of acres in item 21 and
enter that number in the “TOTAL” column (far right
column). This is the number of acres you indirectly own
westwide and should equal item 16.

(h) This item applies if you directly own land and lease
that same land to an entity, trust, or estate in which
you own an interest. Leave both sections of item
15(h) blank if you do not have this situation.

22. For each district, add item 20 and item 21. This is the
total number of acres you own in each district. Add the
number of acres in item 22 and enter that total in the far
right column. This is the number of acres you own
westwide and counts against your ownership entitlement.
You must submit a “Designation of Excess Land”
(Form 7-21XS) if this number is more than your
ownership entitlement.

By completing this item you will prevent counting the
same land twice against your entitlement, once as
directly owned land and again as indirectly leased
land if this situation applies to you.
(1) Enter the number of acres from item 15(g) that
you directly own and lease to the entity, trust, or
estate.

We will determine all land held by you to be ineligible to
receive Reclamation irrigation water if you exceed your
westwide ownership entitlement and you do not submit
Form 7-21XS to designate your excess acres. Your land
will be ineligible to receive such water until the
appropriate excess designation is made. Regardless of
whether your owned land exceeds your ownership
entitlement, you must complete a Form 7-21XS and
designate land as excess on that form if you:

(2) Subtract item 15(h)(1) from item 15(g). This is
the number of adjusted acres that the entity,
trust, or estate leases to use in calculating the
number of leased acres attributed to you.
If this double-counting adjustment does not meet
your particular scenario, please contact your district
office.
(i) Multiply item 15(d) (in decimal form) by item
15(h)(2) if you completed item 15(h). Multiply item
15(d) (in decimal form) by item 15(g) if you did not
complete item 15(h). This is the number of leased
acres attributed to you through the entity, trust, or
estate.
16. Total column 15(f). This is the total number of acres you
indirectly own westwide. Include in this total any indirectly
owned acres listed on continuation sheets or attachments.

•

Purchase land that was designated as excess by the
seller without our sales price approval;

•

Involuntarily acquire excess land; or

•

Involuntarily acquire eligible land and designate it
as excess.

23. For each district, enter the total number of acres you
directly lease in the district. Obtain this information from
item 13(g). Add the number of acres in item 23 and enter
that number in the “TOTAL” column (far right column).
This is the number of acres you directly lease westwide
and should equal item 14.

17. Total column 15(i). This is the total number of acres you
indirectly lease westwide. Include in this total any indirectly
leased acres listed on continuation sheets or attachments.
Landholdings Summary

24. For each district, enter the total number of acres you
indirectly lease in the district. Obtain this information
from item 15(i). Add the number of acres in item 24 and
enter that number in the “TOTAL” column (far right
column). This is the number of acres you indirectly lease
westwide and should equal item 17.

18. Enter your name.
19. Enter the name of each district westwide in which you
hold land. Circle the district at which the original form is
filed if you are a multidistrict landholder.

25. For each district, add item 23 and item 24. This is the
total number of acres you lease in each district. Add the
number of acres in item 25 and enter that number in the
“TOTAL” column (far right column). This is the number
of acres you lease westwide.

20. For each district, enter the total number of acres you
directly own in the district. Obtain this information from
item 10(g). Add the number of acres in item 20 and enter
that number in the “TOTAL” column (far right column).
This is the number of acres you directly own westwide
and should equal item 11.
5

FORM 7-2180 (2021)

26. For each district, add item 22 and item 25. This is the total
number of acres you hold in each district. Add the number of
acres in item 26 and enter that number in the “TOTAL”
column (far right column). This is the number of acres you
hold westwide and counts against your nonfull-cost
entitlement. You must submit a Form 7-21FC if this number
is more than your nonfull-cost entitlement AND you directly
or indirectly lease land.
Basis for Eligibility for Discretionary Provision
Entitlements
27. 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.
Signatures
28. 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, and dependents 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 and a copy must be submitted to each
district you submit RRA forms. The district office must
keep any such spousal signature authorizations on file.

6

FORM 7-2180 (2021)