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.
These direct payments are intended to provide direct assistance to American taxpayers who have lost wages, jobs or opportunities because of COVID-19. But there is some fine print.
Heidi joined Arizent at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Previously, she was the special editions editor at real estate trade publication The Real Deal, covering residential and commercial markets in South Florida, Los Angeles and the metro New York area. Prior to TRD, she was features editor at hyperlocal New York news site DNAInfo, where she oversaw coverage of the city's residential real estate market. With a Bachelors of Science from the College of Communication at Boston University, Heidi majored in film and later worked for celebrated cinéma vérité documentarian Frederick Wiseman. She also did stints as film editor at Metro Newspaper and UsWeekly.
Twitter: @heidipantz
Originally from Northern California, Ryan received bachelor's degrees in English and philosophy at UC Santa Barbara before beginning a career in journalism at the Santa Barbara Independent. After a few years of freelancing, bartending and snowboarding in Colorado, he moved to New York to earn a master's in journalism at Columbia University. Besides covering all things in financial advisor technology, Ryan has also written about music, sports, politics, art and entertainment.
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:
