diff --git a/iceberg/iceberg-handler/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/mr/hive/HiveIcebergStorageHandler.java b/iceberg/iceberg-handler/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/mr/hive/HiveIcebergStorageHandler.java
index db69d6c34c84..df2dcc1ff12a 100644
--- a/iceberg/iceberg-handler/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/mr/hive/HiveIcebergStorageHandler.java
+++ b/iceberg/iceberg-handler/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/mr/hive/HiveIcebergStorageHandler.java
@@ -1297,8 +1297,13 @@ public boolean shouldOverwrite(org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.metadata.Table mTable,
   public Boolean hasAppendsOnly(org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.metadata.Table hmsTable, SnapshotContext since) {
     TableDesc tableDesc = Utilities.getTableDesc(hmsTable);
     Table table = IcebergTableUtil.getTable(conf, tableDesc.getProperties());
-    boolean foundSince = false;
-    for (Snapshot snapshot : table.snapshots()) {
+    return hasAppendsOnly(table.snapshots(), since);
+  }
+
+  @VisibleForTesting
+  Boolean hasAppendsOnly(Iterable<Snapshot> snapshots, SnapshotContext since) {
+    boolean foundSince = since == null;
+    for (Snapshot snapshot : snapshots) {
       if (!foundSince) {
         if (snapshot.snapshotId() == since.getSnapshotId()) {
           foundSince = true;
diff --git a/iceberg/iceberg-handler/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/mr/hive/TestHiveIcebergStorageHandler.java b/iceberg/iceberg-handler/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/mr/hive/TestHiveIcebergStorageHandler.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..d69d51b8247e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/iceberg/iceberg-handler/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/mr/hive/TestHiveIcebergStorageHandler.java
@@ -0,0 +1,126 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.iceberg.mr.hive;
+
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.List;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hive.common.type.SnapshotContext;
+import org.apache.iceberg.Snapshot;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+import org.mockito.Mock;
+import org.mockito.Mockito;
+import org.mockito.junit.MockitoJUnitRunner;
+
+import static java.util.Arrays.asList;
+import static java.util.Collections.singletonList;
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.is;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.nullValue;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
+
+@RunWith(MockitoJUnitRunner.class)
+public class TestHiveIcebergStorageHandler {
+
+  @Mock
+  private Snapshot anySnapshot;
+  @Mock
+  private Snapshot appendSnapshot;
+  @Mock
+  private Snapshot deleteSnapshot;
+
+  @Before
+  public void before() {
+    when(anySnapshot.snapshotId()).thenReturn(42L);
+    Mockito.lenient().when(appendSnapshot.snapshotId()).thenReturn(20L);
+    when(appendSnapshot.operation()).thenReturn("append");
+    Mockito.lenient().when(deleteSnapshot.snapshotId()).thenReturn(100L);
+    when(deleteSnapshot.operation()).thenReturn("delete");
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testHasAppendsOnlyReturnsNullWhenTableIsEmpty() {
+    SnapshotContext since = new SnapshotContext(42);
+
+    HiveIcebergStorageHandler storageHandler = new HiveIcebergStorageHandler();
+    Boolean result = storageHandler.hasAppendsOnly(Collections.emptyList(), since);
+
+    assertThat(result, is(nullValue()));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testHasAppendsOnlyReturnsNullWhenTableIsEmptyAndGivenSnapShotIsNull() {
+    HiveIcebergStorageHandler storageHandler = new HiveIcebergStorageHandler();
+    Boolean result = storageHandler.hasAppendsOnly(Collections.emptyList(), null);
+
+    assertThat(result, is(true));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testHasAppendsOnlyTrueWhenGivenSnapShotIsNull() {
+    HiveIcebergStorageHandler storageHandler = new HiveIcebergStorageHandler();
+    Boolean result = storageHandler.hasAppendsOnly(singletonList(appendSnapshot), null);
+
+    assertThat(result, is(true));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testHasAppendsOnlyFalseWhenGivenSnapShotIsNullButHasNonAppend() {
+    HiveIcebergStorageHandler storageHandler = new HiveIcebergStorageHandler();
+    Boolean result = storageHandler.hasAppendsOnly(asList(appendSnapshot, deleteSnapshot), null);
+
+    assertThat(result, is(false));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testHasAppendsOnlyTrueWhenOnlyAppendsAfterGivenSnapshot() {
+    SnapshotContext since = new SnapshotContext(42);
+    List<Snapshot> snapshotList = asList(anySnapshot, appendSnapshot);
+
+    HiveIcebergStorageHandler storageHandler = new HiveIcebergStorageHandler();
+    Boolean result = storageHandler.hasAppendsOnly(snapshotList, since);
+
+    assertThat(result, is(true));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testHasAppendsOnlyFalseWhenNotOnlyAppendsAfterGivenSnapshot() {
+    SnapshotContext since = new SnapshotContext(42);
+    List<Snapshot> snapshotList = Arrays.asList(anySnapshot, appendSnapshot, deleteSnapshot);
+
+    HiveIcebergStorageHandler storageHandler = new HiveIcebergStorageHandler();
+    Boolean result = storageHandler.hasAppendsOnly(snapshotList, since);
+
+    assertThat(result, is(false));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testHasAppendsOnlyReturnsNullWhenGivenSnapshotNotInTheList() {
+    SnapshotContext since = new SnapshotContext(1);
+    List<Snapshot> snapshotList = Arrays.asList(anySnapshot, appendSnapshot, deleteSnapshot);
+
+    HiveIcebergStorageHandler storageHandler = new HiveIcebergStorageHandler();
+    Boolean result = storageHandler.hasAppendsOnly(snapshotList, since);
+
+    assertThat(result, is(nullValue()));
+  }
+}