Deposit Return Fee for WooCommerce — bottle and can deposit (kaucja, SGR, Pfand) as a separate line

Deposit Return Fee for WooCommerce charges the deposit on bottles, cans and crates as a separate line in the cart, at checkout, in the order, e-mails and invoices — not inside the product price. Ready-made container sets cover the Polish system kaucyjny, the Romanian SGR and the German and Austrian Pfand. The presets use 0.50 zł per PET bottle and can and 1.00 zł per reusable glass bottle (Poland), 0.50 lei (Romania), 0.25 € per Einweg container (Germany, Austria). The deposit stays out of the shelf price, coupons do not reduce it, and it has its own VAT setting.

Put the deposit “into the price” or sell it as a separate product and everything breaks at once: the Grundpreis comes out wrong, a -50 % coupon cuts the deposit, the deposit lands in the VAT base together with the product, and the invoice has no separate line. The plugin solves it with WooCommerce’s own mechanism — a fee line: the classic and block cart, the order, e-mails, My account and invoice plugins all see it.

The core version is free. Container types with ready-made sets for Poland, Romania, Germany and Austria, containers on products and variations, deposit lines in the cart, checkout, order and e-mails, VAT per container type, price notes and the “how to get the deposit back” text work without a licence and without a time limit. Pro adds category rules, bulk edit, CSV import by SKU and GTIN, deposit refunds from the order, deposit lines for orders created in the admin and a report.

There is a separate module for OpenCart — Deposit Return Fee for OpenCart.

What the customer sees

• Next to the price — a note in the scheme’s language: “2,99 zł + kaucja 0,50 zł”, “1,99 € zzgl. 0,25 € Pfand”, “+ garanție SGR 0,50 lei”. On the product page, in the catalogue, in product blocks and in the Product Collection template of block themes; a variation shows its own amount.
• In the cart and at checkout — separate lines “Kaucja — butelka PET do 3 l × 5”, “Pfand Einweg × 4”: one line per container type or a single line for the whole deposit. Under each product — how many containers it brings: “Kaucja — butelka PET do 3 l: 2 × 0,50 zł”.
• Changing the quantity or removing a product recalculates the deposit at once — in the classic and in the block cart.
• Coupons (percentage and fixed) discount only the products; free shipping “from 100 zł” is counted without the deposit.
• “How to get the deposit back” — a short text under the cart, at checkout, on the thank-you page (classic and the Order confirmation block) and in the customer e-mail. Each country has a ready text you can change.
• After payment the deposit lines are in the order, the e-mails, My account and the PDF invoice (checked with PDF Invoices & Packing Slips).

What the admin gets

• WooCommerce → Deposit return → Container types — the table of container types: line name, price note, amount, VAT (outside VAT / like the product / a specific tax class). Buttons for the ready-made sets: Poland, Romania, Germany, Austria; types you have already changed are not overwritten.
• Product → Product data → General → Deposit — up to 3 rows “type × quantity”; a variation can use “same as product”, its own containers or “no deposit”.
• Settings — on/off, delivery countries, with or without VAT, a line per type or a single line, where to show the notes and the return text.
• Currency warning: Polish types in a shop running in EUR (0.50 zł would be charged as 0.50 €) — the plugin tells you.
• Pro: Category rules — “Napoje → PET × 1” for a whole category and its subcategories; a product with its own setting or “No deposit” is left alone.
• Pro: bulk edit in the products list — set containers, “no deposit” or reset to the category rule.
• Pro: CSV — export of all products and variations with SKU, GTIN and containers; import by SKU, then by GTIN (the WooCommerce field or an EAN plugin’s meta such as _ean), “,” or “;” separator (Excel), a dry run without changes.
• Pro: the “Deposit” box in the order — how many containers were charged and returned; “Returned now” + “Refund the deposit” makes a regular WooCommerce refund on the deposit lines only, with VAT and an order note; for gateways that support refunds there is a “refund via the gateway” checkbox.
• Pro: Report — deposit charged, refunded and the balance by month and container type, with CSV export.

Countries and VAT: what the presets contain

• Poland: 0.50 zł — PET bottle up to 3 l and 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). The preset charges the deposit line without VAT, even in a shop with 23 % VAT; reference — art. 29a ust. 11a of the VAT act and the Ministry of Finance explanations of 29.08.2025.
• Romania: 0.50 lei per bottle or can from 0.1 to 3 l (SGR). The preset charges the line without TVA; ask your accountant how the garanția SGR is treated in your case.
• Germany: the Einweg preset is 0.25 € including VAT (VerpackG § 31 states 0.25 € “einschließlich Umsatzsteuer”), at the rate of the drink. The plugin splits Einweg by rate: a cart with cola (19 %) and a milk drink (7 %) gets “Pfand Einweg (Standard rate) × 4” and “Pfand Einweg (Reduced rate) × 2”. The amount stays 0.25 € for a customer from another country; a VAT-exempt customer pays it without VAT. Under PAngV § 7 the Pfand is shown next to the price and is not part of the Grundpreis — checked together with our Grundpreis plugin: 1.99 € for 1.5 l gives 1.33 € / 1 l, without the Pfand.
• Austria: the preset charges the Einwegpfand of 0.25 € without VAT and the Mehrwegpfand at the rate of the drink.
• Mehrweg amounts (0.08 / 0.15 / 1.50 € in DE, 0.20 € in AT) are not set by law — the usual ones are filled in; check them against your supplier’s invoice.

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 amount, VAT and countries of each container type when needed.

How it works — step by step

1. Install the plugin: for a shop in Poland, Romania, Germany or Austria the container set and the return text are added automatically (other countries — with a set button or your own types).
2. Check the amounts and VAT on the “Container types” tab and the “how to get the deposit back” text in “Settings”.
3. Pick containers on products: 1.5 l water — 1 × PET, a 6-pack of cans — 6 × can, a crate of beer — 20 × glass bottle + 1 × crate. In Pro — a rule for a whole category, bulk edit or your supplier’s CSV.
4. The customer sees the deposit next to the price, as separate lines in the cart and at checkout, and then in the order, e-mail and invoice.
5. Pro: when containers are brought back to your shop — enter the number in the order and press “Refund the deposit”; the report shows how much deposit was charged and refunded per month.

Under the hood

• Deposit lines are WooCommerce fees with the id ccdrf-<type>-<VAT>: both carts and checkouts (Store API), the order, e-mails and invoice plugins see them natively, while coupons and the free shipping threshold ignore them. Lines with different VAT are never merged.
• Amounts including VAT: line net = gross − VAT at the customer’s rates, so 0.25 € stays 0.25 € in another country, and a VAT-exempt customer pays the net.
• Order data: a deposit line carries _ccdrf_deposit, the types, the number of containers and the gross; a product line stores its containers. Invoice plugins can use ccdrf_is_deposit_item( $item ).
• Developer hooks: ccdrf_product_components, ccdrf_default_rows, ccdrf_groups.
• Deposit refund (Pro) — a regular WooCommerce refund on the deposit lines: the order total, Analytics and invoice plugins see it; the last units take the remaining cents, and you cannot refund more than is left.
• Deleting the plugin removes its settings and cron jobs; deposit lines in existing orders stay.

Installation

1. Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin: pick the zip and activate it (WooCommerce must be active).
2. WooCommerce → Deposit return: check the container set on the “Container types” tab and the options on “Settings”.
3. On products — Product data → General → Deposit: pick the containers and quantity.
4. For Pro: the “Pro licence” tab — paste the key from the e-mail or press “Try Pro for 7 days”.