Your side job needs its own card

These days, many of us wear different hats to earn income on the side. You might clock out of one job and into the next as a ride-hailing driver, Airbnb host, Etsy shop owner or pet sitter.

Such "gig economy" work can make for a stressful tax season that eats up your time (and billable hours) and costs you potential deductions. A separate credit card for business purposes can help simplify things and maximize your income.

Using a separate credit card for your side business can save hours over sorting personal from business expenses and prevent you from missing valuable deductions. Everything you need to track is on one spending report. You'll still need receipts, but your expenses can easily be found and backed up.

Whether you get a business credit card or a regular credit card for business purposes depends on your goals and expenses.

"If you actually want to do what you're doing for the next two to three years, and you want to grow, then at some point you're going to need business credit," says Miguel Alexander Centeno, a partner at Shared Economy Tax.

Getting started may also require out-ofpocket investments. Applying for a separate credit card can snag you a sign-up bonus or a zero-percent introductory interest rate that helps defray or finance those costs, and ongoing rewards can maximize your income if they align with your spending.

For Nicole Elizabeth, content creator at the blog Nelizabeth, a flatrate business credit card made sense when she started her Etsy shop.

Elizabeth earned rewards on large, onetime investments like her cutting machine, printer and computer — essentials for making the stickers she sells on Etsy. She now earns rewards on recurring expenses such as paper, ink, toner and blog-related purchases.