Employees working from home during the coronavirus pandemic claimed some outlandish expenses this year, including pricey exercise bikes, facelifts and private jets.
Emburse, an expense management software company, released a compilation Wednesday of some of the craziest expenses it has seen claimed this year, some of which were actually approved. That included $1,895, which was approved as a contribution for an employee's Peloton Bike under the explanation of “for health and wellness.” On the other hand, a $7,600 expense claim for a facelift was submitted under the category of “repairs and maintenance” but was rejected, despite the pressing need to look one’s best during a Zoom meeting.
Sarthak Moghe is CEO of TillBilly.
James Quigley is chief executive officer at GoCanvas, a mobile applications development firm.
Martin Higgins is a Vice President of Research and Consulting at Novarica. He is an experienced insurance technology consultant, having served as Practice Director for... Edgewater Consulting where he was responsible for the company’s property/casualty business nationwide. He is an expert in technology strategy, core system selection and implementation, systems integration, legacy modernization, software development, and data warehousing in both property/casualty and life/health/annuity insurance. His most recent experience includes founding a boutique property/casualty-focused consultancy and serving as VP of Solutions Engineering for a core systems vendor. Martin holds an MSc in Computer Science from Imperial College in London and a BSc in Physics from University of Lancaster in the UK. He can be reached directly at mhiggins@novarica.com.
Some expenses weren’t for working from home, but more about getting out of the house safely. An expense claim for a private jet charter costing over $20,000 was submitted and approved under the explanation of “required to limit COVID exposure for international shoots.” Another travel-related expense claim was $2,500 for a helicopter ride, which was not approved.
The $79 expense claim for a dog crate could perhaps be used for travel at some point when that's safer, but in these times it was more plausibly to provide "crate training [for] a new COVID puppy to not run into Zoom meetings."
Below is an infographic produced by Emburse showing this and several other head-scratching claims:
