Bought my main home last April and still live in it. I want to move to AU and ideally would sell now but I want to wait until the end of the year where hopefully things won't be so volatile.

I've looked into the option of renting the house out, but from what I understand I would be taxed on the rental income? In my particular situation, the rental income from tenants wouldn't actually cover the costs of the house (mortgage and rates etc) so my question is, are you still taxed on rental income even if you're not making a profit on it? Can someone 'explain like I'm five' what the situation would be if I rented out my house?? I'm aware I can't rent it for longer than 12 months without it then becoming taxed on eventual sale (loss of main home exemption)

What I can't figure out is will I actually be losing money if I rent it out, or am I just not getting the 'full' amount of the rental income due to tax?