We present the electronic structure of vanadium in YVO4 compound obtained by X-ray absorption (XAS) at the L-2,L-3 edge. We also performed a charge transfer multiplet calculation (CTM) to analyze the experimental results. YVO4 compound was synthesized by the polyacrylamide sol-gel method. For a comparative evaluation, YVO4 compound was prepared by solid-state reaction. XAS results show that the increase of heat treatment favored the presence of one oxidation state V5+. We observed a distinctive broadening at L-2 edge of vanadium due to the L(2)L(3)v Coster-Kronig process. We identify the excitations of 3d bonding orbitals by CTM on the XAS results. Tetragonal parameters (D (s) and D (t)) in D (4h) symmetry reveal a compression of the 3d orbitals in the z direction.