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.
Kunju Kashalikar is vice president of product management at Pentaho with deep expertise in product development, data management and AI/ML technologies. Kashalikar has a proven track record of delivering products and solutions in the hybrid cloud in data management and Edge, leveraging design thinking.
Mark Piszko, CPA, is a partner at PKF O'Connor Davies. He has nearly 40 years of experience in providing auditing and consulting services to a wide variety of not-for-profit entities, including charitable organizations, religious entities, educational and cultural institutions and social services agencies that receive government funding. He is the partner-in-charge of the firm's not-for-profit practice area and is the firm's quality assurance partner for single audits.
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:
