diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 45cbd3b8..bdc5bf1f 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ include hack/tools.mk
 
 .PHONY: add-license-headers
 add-license-headers: $(GO_ADD_LICENSE)
-	@./hack/add_license_headers.sh ${YEAR}
+	@./hack/add_license_headers.sh
 
 .PHONY: build
 build:
diff --git a/hack/add_license_headers.sh b/hack/add_license_headers.sh
index 8cac9e79..5f65c652 100755
--- a/hack/add_license_headers.sh
+++ b/hack/add_license_headers.sh
@@ -7,18 +7,11 @@ set -e
 
 echo "> Adding Apache License header to all go files where it is not present"
 
-YEAR=$1
-if [[ -z "$1" ]]; then
-  cat << EOF
-Unspecified 'YEAR' argument.
-Usage: add_licence_headers.sh <YEAR>
-EOF
-  exit 1
-fi
+YEAR="$(date +%Y)"
 
 temp_file=$(mktemp)
 trap "rm -f $temp_file" EXIT
-sed "s/{YEAR}/${YEAR}/g" hack/license_boilerplate.txt > $temp_file
+sed "s/YEAR/${YEAR}/g" hack/license_boilerplate.txt > $temp_file
 
 # Uses the tool https://github.com/google/addlicense
 addlicense \
diff --git a/hack/license_boilerplate.txt b/hack/license_boilerplate.txt
index 9266b594..f5515f9d 100644
--- a/hack/license_boilerplate.txt
+++ b/hack/license_boilerplate.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
-SPDX-FileCopyrightText: {YEAR} SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company and Gardener contributors
+SPDX-FileCopyrightText: YEAR SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company and Gardener contributors
 
 SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
\ No newline at end of file