I got it.
From Decimal date time: "For these types of calculations, perform a calculation on a decimal date format value, perform the calculation, and convert the result to a date value."
Today's year: format-date(date(decimal-date-time(now())), '%Y')
Get year from date in layer: format-date(date(decimal-date-time(int(pulldata("@layer", "getValue", "attributes.inspection_date", "https://service_url/FeatureServer/14?orderbyfields=inspection_date desc", concat("field1 =", ${field1}))))), '%Y')
EDIT:
I think in all my tests I mixed up some fields and thought I had it, but nope still same problem. Back to the drawing board.