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.
Amy Friedrich is president of Benefits and Protection with Principal Financial Group. Friedrich leads 3,200 employees responsible for group employee benefits, life insurance, disability insurance, and nonqualified deferred compensation, along with the distribution arm, which includes Principal Securities®, the broker-dealer organization, and network of affiliated financial professionals.
Caitlin Long is founder and CEO of Custodia Bank.
Alasdair Milton is a managing director in KPMG's healthcare and life sciences strategy practice with over 20 years of experience. He leads the precision medicine offering, with a particular focus in cell and gene therapies. As a trained cancer biologist, he helps clients solve complex business problems that require deep scientific and technical knowledge, and has worked across a multitude of therapeutic areas.
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:
