Source

File: wp-includes/query.php

function is_year() {
	global $wp_query;

	if ( ! isset( $wp_query ) ) {
		_doing_it_wrong( __FUNCTION__, __( 'Conditional query tags do not work before the query is run. Before then, they always return false.' ), '3.1.0' );
		return false;
	}

	return $wp_query->is_year();
}