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.
Kevin McDonald is chief operating officer and chief information security officer at Alvaka, where he has served for more than two decades. He is a member of industry and law enforcement organizations including the High-Tech Crimes Investigations Association, FBI Infragard, DHS CISA UAV Working Group and GTIA's Global Cybersecurity Task Force. He can be reached by email at kevin@alvaka.net.
Ryan Ellis is the president of the Center for a Free Economy.
Mike Sanders is co-founder and CEO of CereTax. He is a tax technology entrepreneur with over 30 years' experience building and scaling successful businesses. In 1998, he co-founded Tax Partners, growing it into the nation's largest sales tax compliance service bureau before its acquisition by Thomson Corporation. In 2010, he co-founded SureTax, the first SaaS tax calculation platform tailored for the telecom and energy sectors, which was later acquired by Wolters Kluwer.
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:
