Deposit Return Fee for OpenCart — container deposit (kaucja, SGR, Pfand) as a separate order line

Deposit Return Fee for OpenCart adds the drink container deposit as a separate order line: the Polish kaucja (system kaucyjny), the Romanian SGR (garanție 0.50 lei), the German and Austrian Pfand. The “Deposit (N pcs)” line shows in the cart, at checkout, in the order, e-mail, invoice and customer account, and its VAT follows the country rule. One module for OpenCart 4, 3 and 2.3, no core edits.

Honestly about testing. The module went through full runs in clean stores on OpenCart 4.1.0.3, 4.0.2.3 (pdo driver), 3.0.5.0 and 2.3.0.2 on PHP 7.0: installation with the standard installer, real storefront checkouts with the order lines checked in the database — with a coupon, in a second currency, with options, with delivery to another country, with an order by a registered customer and a group without deposit, the order e-mail through a test mail server. The amount to pay equalled the sum of the lines every time. Third-party themes (Journal and others) and multi-store have not been checked yet — try it on your store with the 7-day Pro trial. Rates and VAT in the presets are starting values that the shop checks itself; this is not tax advice.

Running WooCommerce? There is a separate Deposit Return Fee for WooCommerce plugin: the deposit as separate lines in the classic and block cart, order, e-mails and invoices, with the same sets for Poland, Romania, Germany and Austria.

What the customer sees

• A note under the price: “+ 0.50 zł deposit” on the product page, with a link to your container return page. With Pro — also on cards in categories, search and the Featured, Latest and Bestsellers modules.
• A separate deposit line in the cart and at checkout: “Deposit (10 pcs)” or your own title in every store language (by default “Deposit”, “Kaucja”, “Garanție”, “Pfand” depending on the language). The number of containers follows the product quantity, so a quantity change in the cart changes the deposit too.
• The same amount in the order: in the new-order e-mail, the customer account and the invoice. With Pro the e-mail also has a paragraph on how many containers and where to return them.
• Nothing extra: no deposit when delivery goes to a country where this container type does not apply, and (with Pro) none for customer groups without deposit.

What the admin gets

• Container types: name in every language, amount in the store currency, VAT (no VAT / VAT of the product / tax class), “amount includes VAT”, countries, status. The PL, RO, DE, AT presets are added with one button without duplicates; if the store does not run in zł, lei or €, the amounts are converted at the OpenCart rate.
• Deposit per product — in the “Deposit” tab of the standard product form: the type and how many containers one unit holds (a can — 1, a pack of 6 cans — 6).
• Bulk assignment on the “Products” page: filter by name, model, SKU, EAN, MPN, category, manufacturer and type; assign to selected or to all found, remove the same way.
• A line in the order and invoice — a standard OpenCart totals line (code cc_deposit), so it is on the order page, the printable invoice and in e-mails with no extra setup.
• A per-type breakdown in every order: how much plastic, cans and glass, for what amount and with what VAT — for the report to the deposit system operator.
• Settings: line title in every language, show the number of containers, line sort order, which address sets the country (shipping or payment), the page with the return rules.

Countries and VAT: what the presets contain

• Poland: 0.50 zł — plastic bottle up to 3 l, 0.50 zł — metal can up to 1 l, 1.00 zł — reusable glass bottle up to 1.5 l (regulation of the Minister of Climate and Environment of 8.07.2024, Dz.U. 2024 poz. 1046). No VAT: the deposit is outside the taxable base.
• Romania: 0.50 lei per bottle or can from 0.1 to 3 l — plastic, glass, metal (SGR / RetuRO). No VAT.
• Germany: Einwegpfand 0.25 € — the amount already includes VAT, and the VAT rate is that of the drink (§ 31 VerpackG). At 19 % that is 0.2101 net + 0.0399 VAT in the order tax line.
• Austria: Einwegpfand 0.25 € since 1 January 2025 on plastic and metal from 0.1 to 3 l. No VAT.

Rates and VAT here are presets, not tax advice. They are starting values from sources as of October 2026. The shop checks them itself (together with its accountant and the deposit system operator) and changes the rate, VAT and countries of each type when needed. The module shows the same reminder in the admin next to the presets.

Pro: containers by option, a line per type, groups without deposit, CSV and a report

• Several lines per product: 20 bottles + the crate itself, a bottle + a box.
• Deposit by option value: one product “Woda 0,5 l” with the option “single / 6-pack / crate” — each value has its own number of containers that replaces the product lines.
• A line per type: “Kaucja – butelka plastikowa (6 szt.)”, “Kaucja – puszka (6 szt.)” instead of one shared line.
• Notes on cards in categories, search, specials and modules.
• A paragraph in the new-order e-mail: how many containers and where to return them, in the order language.
• Customer groups without deposit — for wholesale and HoReCa customers who settle containers separately.
• CSV: export and import of assignments by SKU, EAN, MPN, model or product ID; unknown codes and types are listed, nothing is guessed.
• Report: containers and deposit by type for a period and order statuses, with CSV export.

How it works — step by step

1. Add your country’s preset on the container types tab (or create your own types) and check the VAT.
2. Assign the deposit to products: in bulk by category or manufacturer, or in the “Deposit” tab of the product form.
3. The customer sees “+ 0.50 zł deposit” under the price and a separate deposit line in the cart.
4. They check out: the deposit line and its VAT are written to the order next to the products and shipping, and the amount to pay includes them.
5. The e-mail, the invoice and the order page in the account show the same line; the module stores the breakdown by container type.
6. With Pro — at the end of the month a report on how many containers of each type were sold, for settling with the deposit system operator.

Under the hood

• Order Total extension: the OpenCart cart, checkout and order call the module themselves, like shipping or a coupon, so the deposit line appears wherever OpenCart shows totals.
• VAT in the tax lines: for a “VAT of the product” type the tax is calculated at the rates of the product tax class and added to the same “VAT 19 %” / “VAT 7 %” lines as the products; the deposit amount in the order is net, like the other OpenCart lines.
• OpenCart events and own tables (cc_deposit_type, cc_deposit_product, cc_deposit_option, cc_deposit_order) — no core file edits and no OCMOD.
• The breakdown follows the order: if the order has no deposit line (group without deposit, another country), the breakdown and the report do not count it either.
• Uninstalling removes the events and keeps types and assignments; “Delete data on uninstall” removes the module tables too.

Installation

1. OpenCart 4: Extensions → Installer → upload cc_deposit.ocmod.zip (do not rename the archive) and click “Install”. OpenCart 3: Extensions → Installer → cc_deposit-oc3.ocmod.zip. OpenCart 2.3: copy the contents of the upload/ folder from cc_deposit-oc2.ocmod.zip to the store root (FTP or the hosting file manager).
2. Extensions → Extensions → type “Order Total” → CatCode Deposit Return → “Install”, then “Edit”.
3. Container types tab: your country’s preset, check the amounts and VAT.
4. Assign the deposit to products and place a test order.
5. For Pro: the “Licence” tab — the key from the e-mail after payment or the 7-day trial.