How to shelter taxes in fix & flips?

[Cass Lowrie]

In the Carolina's, I have found a beautiful micro-niche market for fix & flips that will generate $200K+ per flip.  That's the great news!  Bad News.....now I'm facing some pretty steep tax payments as these are considered regular income.

I'm wondering what seasoned pros are doing to shelter profits made from fix & flips?  We are only holding these properties for 5- months while renovating and selling them.  

We love to get to the flip profits as quickly as possible....but I'm wondering if we would be smarter to rent the homes for 6 months after we renovate so we can "own" the property for 1 year and face Capital Gains instead of regular revenue taxes?

My wife is not a part of the business but has a self directed IRA. Can I use her IRA to loan my investing/contracting company "Hard Money" and then shelter the profits in her SDIRA as a loan payback?

I love BP and truly appreciate all of the advice and wisdom that is shared here.  Thank you in advance for any advice you have!