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.
Stan Hannah, Ph.D., is a partner in Plante Moran's talent development practice.
Paul Bryant is partner of advocacy, equity and engagement at Plante Moran.
Josh Jones is Chief Revenue Officer at Kapitus, one of the most reliable and respected names in small business financing. With over 15 years of experience, Josh has a specialization in building brands and has a proven track record of successfully establishing, reorganizing, and scaling businesses within FinTech. Kapitus provides growth capital to small businesses and has provided over $6 billion to over 50,000 small businesses since 2006.
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:
