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.
Dr. Shlomit Wagman is a fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government and Allan Lab. She previously chaired the Financial Action Task Force risk working group, held a senior role at the Egmont Group and MONEYVAL at the Council of Europe, and led Israel's Financial Intelligence Unit. She earned her Ph.D. and LL.M. from Yale Law School.
Michael Magnan, founder and CEO of AdvizorPro, is a leading wealth management and financial advisor intelligence platform for smarter prospecting.
Prior to AdvizorPro, he was the vice president of new product development for Nasdaq eVestment.
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:
