Returnable packaging

The module keeps a register of returnable packaging per customer, from your customer invoices and credit notes. There is no double entry: you invoice and refund the deposit as usual.

On products

Two fields are added to the product card:

• “Returnable packaging”, a checkbox, for kegs, crates, bottles, pallets… whose deposit is invoiced and refunded on return;
• “Return delay (days)”, the usual delay in your trade. If empty, the module’s default delay applies.

The register follows your invoices

• Validated invoice: the invoiced returnable packaging is counted at the customer.
• Negative line — in quantity or in price — on the next invoice, or credit note: it is counted as returned.
• Invoice set back to draft or deleted: its movements are removed, then recreated when it is validated again.
• Invoice replaced by a replacement invoice: it is no longer counted, only the replacement invoice is.
• Down payment invoices are ignored.

First out, first returned

Returns settle the oldest deliveries first. Packaging is overdue when it has been at the customer for longer than its return delay. With a delay of 0, nothing is flagged as overdue.

On the customer card

The “Returnable packaging” tab of the third-party card shows, for each packaging: the quantity at the customer, the deposit value, the oldest unreturned delivery, the delay and the overdue quantity. Below, the history of movements, with a link to each invoice. A negative balance — more packaging returned than invoiced — is flagged with a warning.

The overview

In the ProductsReturnable packaging menu: all customers holding packaging, a filter by packaging, the “Overdue packaging only” checkbox and a total line.

Manual entry

On the customer’s tab:

• Opening balance: packaging already at the customer before the module was installed. The date entered counts for overdue packaging.
• Correction: a stock-count difference, positive or negative.

A product not marked “Returnable packaging” is refused. Everyday sales and returns go through invoices and credit notes.

Unreturned packaging

The “Consider overdue as sold” button, after confirmation, takes the overdue packaging out of the customer’s balance and records it in the “Considered as sold” report: date, customer, packaging, quantity, value, note, over the chosen period. This report is meant for the accountant.

No invoice is created: the customer has already paid the deposit. It is an accounting entry to be made.

VAT

The module sets no rate: it uses the one you choose on the packaging product.

Under French tax guidance (BOFiP BOI-TVA-SECT-90-30 §§ 30-40, CGI art. 267 III), the deposit may be excluded from the VAT base if VAT is not invoiced and the packaging is returned within the usual delay of the trade; after that delay, unreturned packaging is considered sold at the deposit price. Check with your accountant.

The overview, on Dolibarr 24.0.1: six customer and packaging lines. Le Comptoir des Halles holds 5 FUT-INOX-30L kegs (150.00 in deposits), 1 of them overdue; Cave du Vieux Port, 18 crates, 8 of them overdue. Total: 37 items of packaging, 406.00, of which 12 overdue for 106.00.

The “Emballages consignés” tab of Le Comptoir des Halles: 5 kegs (90-day delay) and 1 pallet (60-day delay), each with 1 overdue item and the “Consider overdue as sold” button. Below, manual entry, then the movements: 6 kegs and 1 pallet invoiced on 05/05/2026 on FA2605-0022, 4 kegs invoiced and 5 refunded on 02/09/2026 on FA2609-0023.

The module’s setup page is reserved for administrators.

The same page recalls the three set-up steps, carries the “Rebuild the register from invoices” button and the VAT reminder. The rebuild rereads all validated invoices and credit notes containing returnable packaging and recreates their movements. Opening balances, corrections and packaging considered as sold are kept.

• Two dedicated permissions, not granted by default: “See returnable packaging” opens the menu, the overview, the report and the tab; “Enter movements and settle unreturned packaging” shows manual entry and the settlement button.
• Writing refused without the second permission, even with a forged request: no movement is created.
• The tab applies Dolibarr’s access check on the third party displayed.
• Sales representatives limited to their customers: without Dolibarr’s permission to see all third parties, a user only sees in the overview and in the report the customers they are the assigned sales representative of, as in Dolibarr’s lists.
• Confirmation before packaging is considered as sold.
• Setup reserved for administrators, with an anti-CSRF token on saving.
• Rebuild in a single transaction: if it fails along the way, nothing is changed.

The dolixconsignes folder, in readable PHP, under the GPL v3 or later licence: the module descriptor, the invoice trigger, the register class, the third-party tab, the overview, the setup page, the table schema, the icons.

• Languages: French (fr_FR), English (en_US) and German (de_DE).
• A README.md describing how it works, VAT and limits.
• A ChangeLog.md.

• One table is added: llx_dolixconsignes_mvt. One row per movement: customer, packaging product, signed quantity (+ at the customer, − returned or considered as sold), deposit value, type, date, source invoice and line, note, user, entity.
• Two fields are added to products: dolixcons_consigne and dolixcons_delai.
• One setting is stored as a Dolibarr constant: DOLIXCONS_DEFAULT_DELAY.
• What is written: a movement when an invoice or credit note containing returnable packaging is validated, at each manual entry and at each settlement. An invoice’s movements are deleted when it is set back to draft, deleted or replaced.
• Nothing is written in your invoices, nor in the stock. No outgoing connection.
• On deactivation, the menu and the tab disappear; the register table and the two product fields are kept.