YEAR Function in Excel: Year From a Date

📎 This article includes 1 downloadable practice file ↓

Date & TimeLevel: BeginnerAvailable in: Excel 2007+

In this article

1. Syntax
2. Examples
3. Example 1
4. Example 2
5. Common errors and fixes
6. YEAR in practice
7. Where you will use it
8. Worked example
9. Mistakes people make
10. Related functions
11. Continue learning

YEAR returns the four-digit year of a date. MONTH and DAY work the same way for the month (1–12) and day (1–31).

Syntax

=YEAR(serial_number)

Argument	What it means
serial_number	A real date (not text that looks like a date).

Examples

Example 1

=YEAR(A2)

2017 from 12-Jul-2017.

Example 2

=YEAR(A2)+(MONTH(A2)>=4)

Indian financial-year end year: 12-Jul-2017 → 2018 (FY 2017–18).

Common errors and fixes

You see	Why, and the fix
#VALUE!	The “date” is text. Convert with DATEVALUE or Text to Columns.
Returns 1900	The cell is empty or contains a small number, not a date.

YEAR in practice

Where you will use it

• Group sales by year
• Financial year start: YEAR(d)-(MONTH(d)<4)
• Age calculations

Worked example

Date	Formula	Result
04-Oct-2026	=YEAR(A2)	2026
15-Feb-2027	=YEAR(A3)	2027
31-Dec-2019	=YEAR(A4)	2019

Results calculated in Excel.

Mistakes people make

Mistake	What to do instead
Indian financial year	YEAR alone gives the calendar year; subtract 1 for Jan-Mar
Text dates	Convert first

Related functions

MONTH · DAY · DATE

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All Date & Time guides →

TIMEVALUE Function in Excel: Text Time to Real TimeDateLevel: IntermediateAvailable in: Excel 2007+TIMEVALUE turns text like "2:45 PM" into a real time…DATEVALUE Function in Excel: Convert Text Dates Into Real DatesDATEVALUE turns a date written as text into a real date number. It follows…MINUTE Function in Excel: Minute From a TimeDateLevel: BeginnerAvailable in: Excel 2007+MINUTE returns 0–59 from a time.Syntax=MINUTE(serial_number)ArgumentWhat it.SECOND Function in Excel: Second From a TimeDateLevel: BeginnerAvailable in: Excel 2007+SECOND returns 0–59. Mostly used to strip seconds from machine.

📎 Practice files for this article

• 📗
  Practice workbook: Dates & times22 tasks on realistic sales data — type your formula, the Check column turns green when it is right. Answers sheet included.
  ⬇ XLSX · 34 KB

Free to use for learning. Files with macros (.bas) are plain text — import them with Alt+F11 → File → Import File, and always test on a copy.