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.
Leslie Krigstein is vice president for congressional affairs for the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives.
Mark McKee is the president and COO of OnPay, a payroll software company. His 15+ years of experience in institutional investing, equity research, private equity and investment banking give him deep insights into what growing businesses and their accountants need to build easy, error-free financial practices.
Lynn Bullard is a consulting actuary and principal at Strategic Benefits Advisors, an independent, full-service employee benefits consulting firm focused on clients ranging from 500 to over 250,000 employees. Lynn has 35 years of experience in benefit plan administration and consulting. She can be reached at info@sba-inc.com.
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:
