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.
Sean Woodward is a managing director at VRC specializing in business enterprise valuations, purchase price allocations (ASC 805), impairment analyses (ASC 350), intellectual property valuations, contingent consideration valuations, and the valuation of equity (IRC 409A and ASC 718) for financial and tax reporting purposes.
Ed Hamilton, CFA, is a managing director at VRC specializing in the valuation of businesses and assets and liabilities for financial reporting purposes — in particular, the valuation of intellectual property/intangible assets such as trademarks, technology, software, customer relationships and IPR&D.
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:
