diff --git a/tests/testthat/helper.R b/tests/testthat/helper.R
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1bd68d7d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/testthat/helper.R
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+skip_if_not_r_version <- function(min_version) {
+  if (getRversion() < min_version) {
+    testthat::skip(paste("R version at least", min_version, "is required."))
+  }
+}
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-emmeans.R b/tests/testthat/test-emmeans.R
index 47e073838..4bcfb0324 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-emmeans.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-emmeans.R
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 skip_on_cran()
 
 # Matrix ABI version may differ (#1204)
-skip_if(paste0(R.Version()[c("major", "minor")], collapse = ".") < "4.4.0")
+skip_if_not_r_version("4.4.0")
 
 skip_if_not_installed("modeltests")
 library(modeltests)
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-joineRML.R b/tests/testthat/test-joineRML.R
index b699f5e99..2badc7f68 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-joineRML.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-joineRML.R
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 skip_on_cran()
 
 # Matrix ABI version may differ (#1204)
-skip_if(paste0(R.Version()[c("major", "minor")], collapse = ".") < "4.4.0")
+skip_if_not_r_version("4.4.0")
 
 skip_if_not_installed("modeltests")
 library(modeltests)
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-metafor.R b/tests/testthat/test-metafor.R
index 1479dcca0..d21479d6f 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-metafor.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-metafor.R
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 skip_on_cran()
 
 # Matrix ABI version may differ (#1204)
-skip_if(paste0(R.Version()[c("major", "minor")], collapse = ".") < "4.4.0")
+skip_if_not_r_version("4.4.0")
 
 skip_if_not_installed("modeltests")
 library(modeltests)
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-stats-anova.R b/tests/testthat/test-stats-anova.R
index 4762816c8..09b70c8a0 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-stats-anova.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-stats-anova.R
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ test_that("tidy.linearHypothesis", {
 })
 
 # Matrix ABI version may differ (#1204)
-skip_if(paste0(R.Version()[c("major", "minor")], collapse = ".") < "4.4.0")
+skip_if_not_r_version("4.4.0")
 
 skip_if_not_installed("lme4")
 test_that("tidy.anova for merMod objects", {