Regulations on the deposit-refund system in Poland were introduced by the Act of 13 July 2023 to amend the Packaging and Packaging Waste (Management) Act and certain other legislation, and under this legislation the deposit-refund system was to take effect on 1 January 2025. However, due to a number of ambiguities and in response to public consultations carried out under the amendment act of 21 November 2024, the system effective date was postponed to 1 October 2025.

The main objective of the system is to ensure that the required levels of separate collection and recycling of beverage packaging and packaging waste are met.

When retailers and wholesalers sell products that are beverages in single-use or reusable packaging falling under the system (bearing a relevant marking), a deposit will be collected and it will be refunded on return of the packaging and no evidence of product purchase will be required for the refund.
The deposit will be:

  • PLN 0.50 per plastic bottle with a volume up to 3 litres;
  • PLN 0.50 per metal can with a volume up to 1 litre;
  • PLN 1 per reusable glass bottle with a volume of up to 1.5 litres.

For sanitary reasons, the system will not apply to packaging of beverages containing milk, yoghurt or other drinking milk product.

Managing a deposit-refund system requires a permit issued by the minister competent for climate. The permit is issued for a definite period, not longer than 10 years from the effective date of the deposit-refund system.

Organisations placing products in specific packages on the market must affix a marking on the packaging to indicate that it is covered by the deposit-refund system and show the deposit value.
These organisations are further obliged to conclude an agreement with a representative entity that operates the deposit-refund system they will transfer the deposit collected to. The representative entity is obliged to collect packaging and packaging waste separately, collect them from retailers and wholesalers as well as other collection points, transport to appropriate locations and keep records and prepare reports.

Meanwhile, retail and wholesale organisations with the sales area:

  • up to 200 m2 are required to participate in the system at least by collecting deposits and may participate by returning deposits and collecting empty packaging and packaging waste;
  • over 200 m2 are required to participate in the system at least by collecting and returning the deposit and collecting empty packaging and packaging waste;
  • over 2000 m2 are also required to carry out, at their expense, separate collection of packaging waste from packaged products offered, by type of packaging from which the waste was generated, exclusive of packaging covered by the deposit-refund system.

The amendment act, apart from changing the effective date of the mandatory deposit-refund system, introduces a number of other changes, namely:

  • it introduces a transitional period for products without any deposit marking: products placed on the market within three months of joining the system, but no later than by 31 December 2025, without the marking provided for refundable deposits, may be used until they are used up, returned or stocks are exhausted;
  • starting from 2026, a three-fold product charge will be imposed on organisations which market beverage packaging and have not joined the system – so as to show that it is not profitable not to join the deposit-refund system;
  • a requirement will be introduced to provide at least one collection point for packaging
    and packaging waste covered by the system from end-users in each municipality;
  • certain parts of the application for the permit have been clarified and the effective time limit of the system has been stated in the permit, which may not be longer than 24 months from the permit issue date.

The introduction of the deposit-refund system also required some amendments to the VAT Act, including:

  • the deposit will be charged at each level of trade, i.e. both for the sale of the product by the manufacturer to the distributor, and for the sale by the distributor to the store and by the store to the consumer;
  • the deposit will not be a part of the taxable amount for VAT purposes – the deposit-refund system will be tax-neutral;
  • VAT will be payable by organisations marketing products in the beverage packaging if the deposit collected for the packaging covered by the deposit-refund system is not returned;
  • unrefunded deposit will include VAT – the difference between the deposit collected and returned will increase the taxable amount for VAT purposes, at the VAT rate applicable to the product sold;
  • VAT on the unrefunded deposit will be paid once a year in the return submitted for the first tax period of the year following the year in which the difference between the packaging marketed and returned arose;
  • VAT invoices will not be required to document the deposit collected, and the return of packaging or packaging waste will not result in issuing a corrective VAT invoice;
  • the representative entity and the marketing entity will be obliged to keep an electronic register of data necessary to determine the taxable amount for VAT purposes and the amount of VAT due. The register is to be made available to the tax authorities upon request.

The specific solutions of the deposit-refund system assume the VAT compliance only by representative entity, who acts as VAT payer, thus simplifying the tax compliance in the deposit-refund system.

If this issue pertains to your business and you are interested in our assistance, please contact us.