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 has been in computer security since 2000, working at Sophos and Virus Bulletin before becoming a director at Tick Tock Social. He joined the Board of Directors of the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization (AMTSO) in 2011, was Chairman of the Board from 2015-17, and now acts as COO. He has spoken at conferences including Virus Bulletin, and written for sites such as Sophos’ NakedSecurity.
Kurt Avarell is CEO and founder of Canopy, a provider of cloud-based tax resolution and practice management for small and midsized accounting firms.
Loreen Gilbert is the founder and president of WealthWise Financial Services
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:
