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.
Managers are focused on helping their employees combat burnout, but they’re at risk too.
Carolyn M. Glynn, Esq., is a trusts and estates attorney in New York City with the law firm of Offit & Kurman, PA and advises high net worth families in the areas of estate planning, retirement planning and business succession planning. She can be reached at carolyn.glynn@offitkurman.com.
Henry Montag is a Certified Financial Planner who has been in practice since 1976, with offices in Long Island, N.Y. He is the founder and principal of The TOLI Center East, which provides independent consultative fee-based life insurance performance evaluations for trustees, their advisers, and high-net-worth individuals. He has lectured extensively on the proper utilization of financial products to the New York State Bar Association, the New York State Society of CPAs, the AICPA, and NCCPA. He has also appeared on Fox Business, Wall Street Week and News 12. He co-authored “The Advisors’ and Trustees’ Guide to Managing Risk and Avoiding a Client Crisis.” Reach him at henry@thetolicentereast.com or (516) 695-4662.
Employers should move with caution when it comes to their office safety strategy as over a third of Americans do not plan to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
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:
