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.
Douglas Bystry is the founder, president and CEO of Clearinghouse CDFI. Bystry is considered an expert in financial institution management and tax credits, with over 30 years of experience raising and deploying capital to low-income communities. He chairs the California Organized Investment Network (COIN) Advisory Board and More Good Days Foundation. He previously served as an Orange County city councilman. Prior to founding Clearinghouse CDFI, Bystry was executive director of Santa Ana Neighborhood Housing Services and executive director of the Affordable Housing Clearinghouse, CCDFI’s nonprofit community partner. Bystry has helped deploy over $1.8 billion in capital into low-income communities throughout his career.
Art Saldana is a digital retailing client solutions architect for Cox Automotive.
Audax, HarbourVest and Genstar ranked as the top three most active private equity firms in 2019, based on the volume of completed deals in the U.S., according to PitchBook. Cornerstone buys talent software firm. Searchlight and Forgelight purchase stake in Unvision. Intuit's Credit Karma acquisition is official. More deal news from IOP and Mondelēz.
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:
