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.
David Stone is Founder and CEO of RetireOne, an independent platform for fee-based insurance solutions.
Samantha Sparks is a senior vice president in the Accounting & Reporting Advisory group at Stout. She has 12 years of experience addressing complex accounting and supply chain challenges faced by the C-suite.
Karen Clarke is Managing Director of the Americas for Anaplan where she leads and sustains business growth for the company's largest market, including Canada and South America. Karen has been a valued member of the Anaplan leadership team since 2017, previously serving as Managing Director for the Asia-Pacific region. Prior to building Anaplan's business in APAC, Karen led the company's Northern European business and held senior roles at Oracle across EMEA.
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:
