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.
Steven Gortler is a Registered Municipal Advisor based in San Francisco. Steven has many years of public finance experience structuring, marketing and pricing a wide variety of bonds for California cities, redevelopment and successor agencies, counties, school districts and special districts. Previously, Steven was an investment banker with Piper Jaffray; a financial advisor with Kelling, Northcross & Nobriga, Leifer Capital, Caldwell Flores Winters and Wulff, Hansen & Co., a rating analyst with Standard & Poor's; and a tax analyst with the New York City Office of Management & Budget.
A technology strategist, David is vice president of strategy at harmon.ie, provider of the first user experience tools for the digital workplace built to deliver information the way the human brain works. David is also a PhD candidate in information management, exploring information overload experienced by mobile workers, and an international scholar for the Society for the History of Technology.
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:
