Yes, there is a function in Microsoft Excel that you can use to turn dates into the end of the year or the beginning of the preceding year. You can use the EOMONTH function to get the end of the month for a given date and then subtract the number of months to get the end of the year or the beginning of the preceding year.

Here are the steps to get the end of the year for a given date:

1. Select a cell where you want to display the end of the year.
2. Enter the following formula:
   Formula:

   =EOMONTH(A1,11) 

3. Replace A1 with the cell reference of the date you want to use.
4. Press Enter.

This formula will return the last day of December for the year of the date in cell A1.

To get the beginning of the second calendar year, you can use the following formula:

1. Select a cell where you want to display the beginning of the second calendar year.
2. Enter the following formula:
   Formula:

   =DATE(YEAR(A1)+1,1,1) 

3. Replace A1 with the cell reference of the date you want to use.
4. Press Enter.

This formula will return the first day of January for the year following the year of the date in cell A1.

To get the end of the fourth calendar year, you can use the following formula:

1. Select a cell where you want to display the end of the fourth calendar year.
2. Enter the following formula:
   Formula:

   =EOMONTH(DATE(YEAR(A1)+3,1,1),11) 

3. Replace A1 with the cell reference of the date you want to use.
4. Press Enter.

This formula will return the last day of December for the fourth year following the year of the date in cell A1.