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.
Laurence Sotsky is the CEO of Incentify, a Los Angeles-based AI technology company specializing in the discovery and management of tax credits and incentives. Before Incentify, he was the CEO and founder of Hopscotch, a venture-backed SaaS platform specializing in mobile application development for the sports and entertainment industry. Prior to his entrepreneurial ventures, he spent seven years in management consulting at Deloitte Consulting and Accenture.
Anita Dennis is an award-winning freelance journalist and author whose work has been published in The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and The Journal of Accountancy, among other publications.
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:
