Insolvency numbers are likely to remain at record levels until well into next year, one practitioner says.

Keaton Pronk, an insolvency practitioner at McDonald Vague, said corporate insolvency appointments were at historically elevated levels in August, at 274 in the month.

He said there were 2099 appointments in the year so far, putting it on track to be the highest number since the global financial crisis.

"The figures suggest that business failures are no longer simply returning to normal levels following the pandemic-era suppression of insolvencies but are instead reflecting a prolonged period of financial stress across a range of sectors and regions."

Pronk said liquidation appointments were 88 percent of August insolvencies.

Insolvent liquidations were 53 percent and court liquidations 35 percent.

"Realistically, it's probably going to continue this way I would say at least into 2027.

"Inland Revenue [IRD] has got a lot of debt it needs to get in."

He said the tax department was closing in on $10 billion of tax owing.

"When it goes into liquidation, that's when they are able to say it's either recoverable or it's not, at that point."

Pronk said a lot of business debt was quite old.

"Some of the companies do have debt from over Covid, when they just weren't applying the pressure. Companies were allowed to accrue a bit of debt and there was no one saying 'hey you need to pay this'. They were just like 'be kind, take your time, do whatever'.

"Suddenly they've come to a point where the IRD is saying 'we want this money in' but the tools they have in order to recover that... for a company to repay several hundred thousand dollars, that's a huge amount for someone that's only making several hundred thousand a year, a business with maybe one or two staff.

"When IRD says 'we want that repaid in two years' that becomes very difficult for a business to be able to do that."

He said there was not one sector that was particularly hard hit.

"It's kind of across everywhere, but the North Island is perhaps not going as well."