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.
John Gomez is CEO of Sensato, which offers cybersecurity solutions, services and consulting.
Carrie Steffen is a founding shareholder and president of The Whetstone Group Inc., which provides growth consulting services to CPA firms and other professional service firms. She has nearly 25 years of CPA firm marketing experience, and serves as president of the CPA Consultants' Alliance as well as on the board of the Association for Accounting Marketing. Before joining Whetstone, she was an in-house marketing director at RSM McGladrey.
Gerry Blass is president and CEO of ComplyAssistant, which provides software and service solutions with a focus on cybersecurity and compliance frameworks and regulations.
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:
