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.
Madhan Kanagavel is founder and chief executive officer at FileCloud.
Taylor Macdonald is responsible for managing the Sage Intacct Value Added Reseller (VAR) and CPA channel initiatives. Taylor has more than 20 years of experience building and operating some of the largest and most successful channel programs in the world for financial and ERP providers, including Deltek and Sage.Taylor founded Macdonald Consulting Group in 1990, and was named Sage Software's top worldwide business partner five years in a row. Taylor was also named a Top Channel Executive from VARBusiness and Top 50 Channel Champion from CRN for three consecutive years. He was on the Accounting Today list of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting six times.
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:
