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.
Drew Hermiller is an associate at Nelson Mullins in Charleston, South Carolina. Hermiller practices with the tax and benefits group and has experience counseling clients on complex domestic and cross-border transactional tax matters. He can be reached at drew.hermiller@nelsonmullins.com or (843) 534-4125.
C. Wells Hall, III is a partner at Nelson Mullins in Charlotte, North Carolina. Hall advises clients on the federal, state and multi-tax aspects of acquisitions, reorganizations, restructuring of business entities, and private equity transactions and estate and gift tax planning in connection with such transactions. He can be reached at wells.hall@nelsonmullins.com or (704) 417-3206.
Ingrid Tolentino is senior vice president and head of MetLife Legal Plans at MetLife.
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:
