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.
Jacob Channel is the senior economist for LendingTree.
Robert Walde is a Senior Software Engineering Manager at Clearwater Analytics, bringing over 30 years of experience in software and platform technologies. In his current role as Senior Software Development Manager, he leads two software development teams focused on Regulatory and Accounting technology platforms.
Sabrina Wilson is a Global Regulatory Policy Expert, and serves as a subject matter expert for regulatory filings at Clearwater Analytics. In this role, she works with internal teams for the ongoing enhancement of NAIC reports. Sabrina has over 20 years' of statutory accounting and reporting experience and uses her background to communicate industry best practices and comment on regulatory guidance and procedures.
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:
