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.
Carol Laufer is senior vice president and the head of liability in North America at Allianz Commercial. Based in New York, Laufer brings more than 30 years of insurance industry experience to the Allianz Liability team.
Tim Hilligoss is a partner at Wipfli who helps closely held business owners tackle the top financial, tax and operational issues impacting their bottom line. His experience includes entity and organizational structure, U.S. tax planning and compliance, and transactional services with a focus on tax efficient deal structuring, buy-sell side due diligence, Quality of Earnings studies and reorganizations.
Global CDO, consultant, speaker and author Janet M. Stovall helps business dismantle systemic inequity to leverage the power of diversity. Global Head of DEI at NeuroLeadership Institute, and founder of DEI consultancy, Pragmatic Diversity, Janet specializes in shaping and implementing realistic DEI visions and strategies that drive change and build culture. Collectively, her three TED talks challenging business to get serious about inclusion have nearly 3 million views, and she is co-author of Amazon bestseller, The Conscious Communicator: The Fine Art of Not Saying Stupid Sh*t.
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:
