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.
Angie Brown, CPA, CGMA, is senior director of product management at Becker Professional Education.
Tammy Bradly is the senior director of clinical product marketing at Genex Services.
Melissa Chi is Head of Product at E&S technology platform Pathpoint. In her role, she leads the product team in exploring opportunities to develop products and features that simplify processes and expand the breadth and depth of Pathpoint's E&S products. Chi's technology and startup background includes experience as Director of Product at Stord, Product Manager at SigFig, and Product Manager & Capital Markets at Earnest. She holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern and a BS in Business and Political Science from the University of Florida.
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:
