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.
Bill Gimbel is president of LaSalle Benefits, a technology-enabled corporate benefits firm.
As the Americas Insurance Sector Leader for EY’s Strategy and Transactions, Martin advises clients on all issues relating to organic growth strategy and inorganic acquisitions and divestitures. He also has deep experience in organizational structuring and operational integration and separation.
Martin holds an MBA from INSEAD and an MSc in Computer Science from Twente University, The Netherlands.
Geoffrey has over 23 years’ experience serving a mix of entrepreneurial and global clients across multiple subsectors in financial services. He has worked on over 300 transactions advising both corporate and private equity clients in multiple types of transactions, including banking, asset management, FinTech and insurance. Geoffrey is a CPA actively licensed in New York and North Carolina.
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:
