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.
Burcu Bree Manay is founder and managing partner of Manay CPA. She serves on the board of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and is a member of the Forbes Business Council. She is a CPA and Certified Tax Coach with about 25 years of professional accounting, financial planning, tax and business consultancy experience in various U.S. and international sectors.
Gurpreet Chaggar is an associate product marketing manager at Prophix. She joined the company in 2019 as an implementation consultant, where she developed a deep understanding of Prophix's solutions and the impact Prophix has on helping clients optimize business outcomes.
Heather Robison is a marketing manager, strategist and facilitator at Boomer Consulting Inc., where she works with accounting firm leaders to rethink how marketing and business development drive sustainable growth. She leads the Boomer Marketing and Business Development Circle, where she facilitates peer-driven conversations and surfaces patterns from top-performing firms.
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:
