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.
Rob Dietz is a Principal in the Advisory Services practice of Ernst & Young LLP. He has more than 20 years of experience in Property and Casualty (P&C) insurance. His work in the P&C insurance industry includes business and technology transformation, business process reengineering, software evaluation and selection, business case development and managing the delivery of large-scale technology implementation programs in onshore and offshore models, including multiple full lifecycle implementations of core insurance systems across a variety of platforms.
Gregg Dooge is a partner and business lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP. Since 1984 he has practiced in the employee benefits area representing employers with respect to ERISA and tax issues that arise in connection with the executive compensation, deferred compensation, pension, profit sharing and welfare benefit plans that they sponsor. He is chair of the Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Practice and a memb
Chris Schaefer is head of the retirement plan practice at MV Financial.
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:
