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.
Matthew Commons is CFO at Transparent Energy. He has more than 25 years of financial executive experience across both public and private equity-backed companies. He also serves as president of Commons Partners LLC.
Ian Drysdale is CEO of One Inc. since 2021. Named one of the top CEOs in insurtech in 2025. Ian brings over 30 years of senior leadership experience from major payments platforms, including Zelis, Elavon, and WorldPay.
Before joining One Inc, Ian was executive in residence at Great Hill Partners, focused on investments and advisory in the financial technology sector. He holds a BA from Bishop's University in Canada and an MBA in International Business from Florida Atlantic University.
Pankaj "Romy" Malviya is a renowned technologist, patent holder, and serial entrepreneur with a track record of building transformative enterprise software companies. He is the founder and CEO of Pulpstream, which he established with the
vision to streamline business processes through innovative technology solutions. Malviya's entrepreneurial ventures have consistently resulted in successful exits, with his products being utilized by some of the largest companies in the world.
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:
